CIRSD President Vuk Jeremic participated at the inaugural UK-China Reform and Innovation Forum (RIF) in London on October 22nd, 2015, held during the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK. The RIF is jointly convened by Chatham House and the Development Research Center of the State Council of China (DRC), having been jointly announced by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2014.
This year's RIF was devoted to the interrelated challenges of reform and innovation and natural resource governance and sustainability. The key objective of the conference was identifying innovative ways to reform governance structures used to further development, in order to promote more resilient, more competitive, and greener growth models.
Keynote remarks were delivered by Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House, and Li Wei, DRC President and a CIRSD Board member. High-level panelists also included Bernice Lee, Head of Climate Change and Resource Security Initiatives at the World Economic Forum; Mallika Ishwaran, Senior Economist at Shell International; Han Wenke, Director-General of the Energy Research Institute at China’s National Development and Reform Commission; Peter Nolan, Director of the Centre of Development Studies and the University of Cambridge; Sam Walsh, CEO of Rio Tinto; and Oliver Letwin, UK Minister for Government Policy.
Two reports were also launched during the RIF: a joint DRC-Chatham House report on the role of China in global resource governance and a joint DRC-Shell report on natural gas in China.
The conference was held under the Chatham House Rule, ensuring that panelists and participants could speak freely and off-the-record.
