On October 18 of 2005, the 2^nd International Yellow River Forum (IYRF) was opening in Zhengzhou of China that attracted more than 800 experts, scholars and officers’ participation. Half of delegates were overseas from more than 60 countries and areas. Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander attended the forum.

On October 17, the Delegation led by Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander and Dirk Jan Van den Berg, Dutch Royal Ambassador in China arrived in Zhengzhou and visited the Yellow River arranged by Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC). Later, Mr. Wang Shucheng, the Minister of Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) of China, Mr. Suo Lisheng, the vice Minister of MWR, and Mr. Li Guoying, the Commissioner of YRCC met Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander. Mr. Wang Mingyi, the vice governor of Henan Province also met the Dutch Delegation. At the evening, Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander attended the Dutch Evening Banquet.

After visiting the Yellow River, Dutch Crown Prince attended the news conference at the evening on October 18th to present the visiting purpose and his feeling about the 2^nd IYRF and the Yellow River. He said the less water and much sand was the characteristic of the Yellow River in which some other river problems also existed. It was why the forum attracted so many international water experts coming here. And the management and achievement of the Yellow River could provide experiences of river management for other countries.

On the forum, Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander debriefed the reports about the Sino-Dutch projects including “Satellite based Water Monitoring and Flow Forecasting System in the Yellow River Basin” and “Capacity Building of Water Management”, witnessed the startup of Sino-Dutch cooperation project “Yellow River Delta Environmental Flow Study”, and attended the seminar of flood forecasting, dike and embankment management. He hoped the Sino-Dutch cooperation would develop smoothly to the established objective.

On October 19, the Delegation of Dutch Crown Prince William Alexander investigated the situation of water and soil erosion in the Loess Plateau.

Source:  www.yellowriver.gov.cn   Editor:HuangFeng