BEIJING — Tsinghua-Veolia Environment and Urban Management Advanced Program (EUMAP), a teaching program dedicated to Chinese officials, held the opening ceremony for its 2011 seminar in Tsinghua University in Beijing on November 12, 2011.

Thirteen trainees from nine municipalities and provinces, including Beijing, Liaoning, Guangdong, Shanxi, attended the ceremony. Most of the trainees are municipal officials in charge of environmental protection work.

Yu Gang (L), Dean of School of Environment of Tsinghua University, addresses the opening ceremony for EUMAP 2011 seminar in Tsinghua University on November 12, 2011. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Launched in 2009, the EUMAP is a five-year program comprised by annual seminars, forums, trainings and on-the-spot investigations. The program is co-sponsored by School of Environment of Tsinghua University and Veolia Environment Group China, which deals with everything from wastewater to toxic waste.

"Through this joint program, Veolia will not only bring France's advanced technology but also experience and ideas on environment and urban management to China," Luc Zeller, Veolia Environment Service Asia CEO, told chinadaily.com.cn after the ceremony.

This year's curriculum includes pollution emission reduction during China's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), urban ecological civilization construction, environmental protection industry in economic crisis, waste treatment in France and Europe, etc.

Officials of relevant ministries, experts of Tsinghua University and national academic institutions, European environment experts as well as municipal experts will give lectures during this year's seminar.

Tsinghua University and Veolia Environment founded in 2010 the Joint Research Center for Advanced Environmental Technology to further their cooperation on environment protection research.

Over more than 10 years, Veolia has invested nearly $2 billion in China, having 62 water disposal, water conservancy management and energy source projects in 41 cities on the mainland and in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.