China

Headed by its President, Robert Shi, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Chinese branch in Beijing carried out a busy and varied programme of work in 2022. To coincide with HSH Prince Albert II’s visit to Beijing for the Winter Olympic Games, the Chinese branch organised an exclusive interview with him by French channel China Global Television Network. Chinese audiences showed great interest in the Sovereign Prince’s answers to questions about the branch’s projects.

In March, the Foundation’s Chinese office was invited by the China Environmental Protection Foundation (CEPF), as a member of the expert group, to participate in the selection of a candidate for the second phase of the Lake Taihu project. The branch also facilitated the video participation of China’s Ecology and Environment Minister, Huang Runqiu, at the 13th Monaco Blue Initiative.

Between July and September, the Chinese office participated in several online training sessions, the first of which was organised by the Beijing Service Center for Overseas NGOs. The second was on the invitation of the Secretariat of the China Association for NGO Cooperation, which saw the organisers receive congratulations from President Xi himself. The third was run by Beijing Public Security Bureau Overseas NGO Management Office.

On the invitation of WWF’s Chang-Chun office, the Chinese branch visited the site of the Amur tiger project at the end of July. The day before the opening of Hunchun Tiger Festival, the office was received by the Vice Governor of Jilin Province and the Deputy Minister of China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, along with other officials and experts. The Chinese branch was later invited to the sixth Tiger Habitat Ranger Competition in Dongning, an event co-founded by WWF, the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration and Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province Forestry and Grassland Bureaus. Co-organised by Shenzhen One Earth Nature Foundation and run by the Dongning Forestry and Grassland Bureau, the competition was supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Shanghai Disney Resort and Anta Sporting.

A funding agreement for a scholarship-awarding programme was signed between the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s headquarters, the Foundation’s Chinese branch in Beijing and Tsinghua University Education Foundation (TUEF).

Lastly, the Foundation’s Chinese branch helped organise the online conference for the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14), which was held in Wuhan, China, from 5 to 13 November 2022