On January 18th 2019, C-CBC successfully hosted a bioenergy meeting at Beijing University of Chemical Technology for the Canada China Track II Energy Dialogue. C-CBC directors Xiaotao Bi and Tianwei Tan led discussions with a group of academic and industry experts from the two countries on bioenergy development, challenges, and opportunities.

The ongoing Track II Energy Dialogue follows up on a commitment made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in September 2016 to develop and reinforce bilateral co-operation in the field of energy. The Secretariats for Canada and China are the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) and the Economics and Technology Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corporation (ETRI of CNPC), respectively. The Dialogue aims to identify impediments, challenges and opportunities for enhanced energy cooperation with the objective of increasing trade and investment between the two countries. It initially covers a spectrum of energy subsectors including: renewables, energy efficiency, Indigenous inclusion, nuclear safety, and natural gas and oil. C-CBC has been advocating the addition of bioenergy subsector and this meeting was a good start.

A report will be delivered based on the discussions from this meeting on existing opportunities and areas of potential future collaboration, challenges that have prevented Canada and China from furthering their co-operation, as well as recommendations to overcome those challenges.