200.000 foreign experts are staying in China to support the social, economic and ecological development of the country. 50 of them from, coming from 20 countries were selected to receive the award 2007 for their outstanding performances.

        The China National Friendship Award is the highest award for foreign experts in China. From the candidates proposed by Liaoning Province, the Austrian Professor and German CIM expert Dr. habil. Bernhard Raninger, from SYIAE was selected, for his support to improve the environmental management in China since 1989.

        He was the only candidate selected by the inter-ministerial evaluation committee with full evaluation scores. Prof. Raninger has been working in Liaoning for 8 years. And for the last four years, he has been working at the Institute for Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering (ICEEE) of SYIAE on waste management and biotechnological waste processing research.

        The Award 2007 was over handed by the Vice Premier of the State Council Zeng Peiyan in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 29th. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stressed in his welcoming speech to the foreign experts that the Chinese opening up policy will never change and that more foreign talents are welcomed to improve China's modernization drive.