The new training branch aims to provide better education and training services in the fields of meteorology and hydrology for nations in the Asian-Pacific region and developing countries.

Qin Dahe, director of China Meteorological Administration, said the Beijing Component would assist Asian and other developing countries in training technical professionals and administrative personnel on meteorology.

"It will promote China's contribution to the WMO's education and training programs," Qin said.

As one of the WMO's founders, China had built a sound cooperative relationship with the WMO for many years, supporting and participating in its education and training plans, Qin noted.

China had helped people all over the world engaged in meteorology and hydrology enhance their professional level through providing training scholarships, organizing global meteorological conferences as well as transferring advanced technologies to developing countries.

In 1994, China signed an agreement with the WMO to set up RMTC Nanjing in Nanjing Meteorological Institute of Jiangsu Province.

In August 2002, the WMO formally designated China Meteorological Administration Training Center (CMATC) as the Beijing Component of its RMTC in Nanjing.

In recent years, the CMATC has made great efforts to guarantee sufficient high-level professionals for China's meteorological development. Its training courses cover new weather radar principles and operational applications, sandstorm forecasting and warning services, techniques for urban environment prediction and monitoring, new knowledge of meteorological science for the water resources and civil aviation sectors, and many other aspects.

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2003)