Joint Exploration of Marine Resources
GEOMAR and Second Institute of Oceanography (Hangzhou, China) sign cooperation agreement
30 September 2013/Kiel. In the past week, senior officials of the Chinese State Oceanic Administration (SOA) from Hangzhou visited the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The discussions with the researchers in Kiel focused mainly on planned joint projects under the Sino-German Cooperation, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Priorities of cooperation are in the area of marine mineral resources and the development and use of novel underwater analysis technology. Other institutes involved in the project proposal, aside from GEOMAR, are the Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, and the company of JC Bachmann.
A highlight of the visit was the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding" between GEOMAR and the Second Institute of Oceanography (SIO) of the SOA, Hangzhou, which provides for a strengthened cooperation between the two institutions in the exploration of marine resources, but also in the training of young scientists and the use of research infrastructure. The signing signified a renewal of an existing cooperation agreement of 2004. "The issue of raw materials from the sea, especially in deep sea metal mining, is highly topical. At the same time, fundamental scientific questions about potential mining deposits and their exploitation are not yet clear. Therefore, international cooperation is essential to jointly expand the knowledge base," said Dr. Warner Brückmann, head of the project group “Energy and Resources" at GEOMAR after the signing of the agreement on Friday.
