IN BRIEF (Page 8)

ABB scholarship fund

Automation technology group ABB will create a foundation with 20 million Swiss francs ($16.6 million) to sponsor talented and needy students in engineering and natural sciences, including in emerging economies such as China.

The ABB Jrgen Dormann Foundation for Engineering Education will support graduate students with an scholarship for up to five years. The foundation is named after Jrgen Dormann, who recently retired from the post of chairman, in recognition of his contribution to the company. He became chairman in 2001 and served as CEO from September 2002 to December 2004.

Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of ability, potential and personal needs, and are open to students around the world beginning in 2008

Forum on Yangtze and Dongting

Organized by the Hunan provincial government and sponsored by international non-governmental environmental protection organization World Wildlife Fund, the second Yangtze Forum was held recently to explore solutions to environmental issues around the Dongting Lake that can influence the sustainable development of China's "mother river" - the Yangtze.

With the theme of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, the three-day forum brought together river basin management experts from home and abroad, government officials and representatives from non-governmental organizations, as well as businesses, to discuss how to improve conservation of the Dongting Lake and contribute to the sustainable development of the Yangtze River.

A declaration - termed the Guiding Principles for Dongting Lake Conservation - was announced at the forum, calling for all stakeholders to face impending threats by promoting flood prevention and disaster relief, water resource management, integrated pollution prevention and ecosystem protection in the lake.

China Mobile education effort

China Mobile Group donated 4.75 million yuan to the China Education Development Foundation to support education for poverty-stricken students in the middle and western regions.

The money was raised during the company's three-month-long nationwide philanthropic short message contest. The contest asked participants to send short messages about charity to the organizing committee, with the service fee that was later collected donated. A team of independent judges selected the top 10 and awarded the writers.

'Love Program'

The China Mechanical and Electrical Enterprises website joined with the Chinese Red Cross Foundation recently to launch the "Mechanical and Electrical Enterprises Love Program".

The program, using the foundation's network, aims to encourage China's mechanical and electrical companies to show their compassion by donating money to establish hospitals or clinics in rural poverty areas and set up libraries in schools in those regions.

(China Daily 05/21/2007 page8)