Dear Participants, Colleagues :
Our memorable training workshop
is going to an end now. It is my pleasure to send a remark
on this grand closing ceremony. First of all, I'd like
to express my warm congratulations to the full success
of the workshop which has been achieved under joint effort
of HRC staff and all of you the distinguished participants.
Now, I would like to talk about 5 points in the followings
:
1. The success of the workshop
once again proves the deep insight or philosophy delivered
by a senior official Mr.Tanaka from UNIDO, on the first
Training Workshop on Small Hydropower for the Asia-Pacific
in 1983 at HRC. ( Unfortunately, Mr.Tanaka passed away
several years ago ). Upon analysis of the technological
dependency of the developing to the developed countries
and the widening technology gap between the two groups
of countries, he pointed out that well-organized training
workshop would be an answer to reduce the gap. But on
the other hand, in many cases the developing countries
do have such technological capability and capacity, and
it is a matter of how these existing capabilities could
be effectively mobilized to serve the needs of the countries.
And it is more often than not, a problem of "self-confidence"
that could motivate an effective contribution of such
"technical capabilities" to serve the purpose.
It is for this reason that UNIDO has preferred to call
the training activities not simply a "training course
"but a" training workshop " with emphasis
on the latter word "workshop". It is the active
participation of the individuals in the excises, the debates,
the thinking process and the subsequent mapping out of
an action plan ( or follow-up cooperation activities )
that would provide the participants with that " self-confidence
" to recognize that after all everybody thinks the
same way and acts the same way, and there is little difference
in the " capabilities " except " accumulated
experience ." Although this statement was made more
than 20 years ago, our present workshop has further vividly
reflected the correctness of this inference. As the technological
capabilities and capacity have further been improved in
most developing countries, this workshop type event is
likely to be more proper rather than a simple training
course.
2. In addition to our well-prepared
technical materials on the basis of China's experience
of small hydropower development and well-organized workshop
in both presenting the papers in the room and effectively
implementing the on-site visit to generation plants and
equipment manufacturers, the country report presentation
and bilateral cooperation meetings were successively held.
To my personal feeling, the participants’ presentations
are all well-prepared and well-presented which gave deep
impression to all of us. Not only comprehensive information
and latest status of small hydropower development and
even electric industry's development in the respective
countries have been delivered but also some specific experiences
with respect to small hydropower development were offered
in the presentation, which were of course valuable and
helpful to all of us. For example, the Indian experience
of private participation in the SHP development and their
innovative mechanism for power sales and purchase activities
is very inspirational to us. I'd suggest all the participants
to prepare your own papers in wordings on the basis of
your Power Point version for HRC to publicize successively
on its quarterly journal << SHP-NEWS>>.
3. Throughout the whole period
of the workshop, cordial and friendly atmosphere were
filled in every event, animated discussions with substantial
contents mostly occurred, and cooperative and constructive
spirit were shown both in the bilateral meetings and in
the classroom discussions as well. Here, I'd especially
express our appreciation and thankfulness to the class
monitor and chairman of the country report presentation
for his effective effort and contribution to the co-organization
of the workshop with HRC.
4. We have a saying in China recently
expressing Chinese peoples' best wishes to build a harmonious
world with people from other countries and regions as
was given by the 2008 Olympic Games preparation. May be
we can also say that in our SHP sector, we SHP people
have also set up a harmonious circle which shows both
friendship, mutual learning and cooperation among peoples
from different countries with different faces, cultural
and religious background. All these further signify the
existence and role of the " SHP- family " which
was usually awarded to HRC by international SHP people.
The great Chinese ancient philosopher Confucius said:
" In human relationship, a gentleman seeks harmony
but not uniformity " which taught us that "
harmony without sameness is an important principle in
the development of all social affairs and relationships
and in guiding people's conduct and behaviors ".
I was especially impressed when I was told that our participants
have had an up-close discussion with college students
here which had further gave you an opportunity to exchange
not SHP professional knowledge but broad cultural ideas
for furthering your understanding of Chinese people in
a wider sense. Hope that all the activities you have engaged
in China will be helpful to build up " confidence
" in setting up cooperation with China and for you
to act as a bridge of mutual cooperation between our countries.
5. Last but not least, although
we all know that the S-S cooperation is now undergoing
an expansion from TCDC to ECDC, but I'd still stress that
these should also be further understood of its expansion
to trade and investment. So, the prospect of our future
cooperation could be summarized as "T+E+T+I ".
We look forward to hearing from you of any follow-up event
proposals after going back home. We will of course do
our best to offer our contribution in promoting the SHP
development worldwide, including your particular country.
Thank you. (2005-12-05)
