The first meeting of the management committee of the State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Mercury Pollution Prevention and Control was held in Shenyang on April 11, 2014. Mr. Chen Liang, Acting Director General of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Zhu Jinghai, Director General of the Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) of Liaoning Province attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Deputy Director General Fang Li from FECO made a summary at the end of meeting. More than 30 representatives from the Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shenyang EPB, Shenyang Academy of Environmental Sciences and FECO attended the meeting.

With the development of the Minamata Convention implementation platform as the focus of the meeting, members of the Center had extensive discussions over the development plans, priorities, implementation steps and cooperation mechanism of the Center, and a cooperation agreement was reached and signed.

Mr. Chen Liang pointed out that China is a big producer, user, trader and emitter of mercury. As a responsible environment-aware country, the implementation of the Minamata Convention is facing severe challenges. The Chinese government pays great attention to mercury pollution, and its prevention and control is high on the government’s agenda for environmental protection: a series of policies, laws and regulations, economic and administrative measures have been adopted, with positive outcomes achieved. Under the guidance of the MEP, the Engineering Center, which united strong partners at the opportune time for technological development, has a promising future with clear goals and plans for its development. Mr. Chen expressed his hope that the Engineering Center can be developed into a world-leading one, and a cooperation mechanism that is “sincere, complementary, outcome and risk-sharing” can be set up and followed by members of the Center, so progress can be made at "government, industry, academy, research and market" levels, and new patterns for marketization and commercialization of mercury pollution prevention and control technologies can be constantly explored.

During the meeting, a site visit to the Shenyang Chemical Industry Group and Shenyang EPB was made to study the environmental monitoring information management system and high-end environmental monitoring equipment.