UN-HABITAT and the National Training Center For Mayors of China (NTCMC) on Monday agreed to promote a training project on water conservation and sanitation for mayors across China.

According to the agreement, UN-HABITAT will donate US$15,000 to the program and the NTCMC will carry out assessments and identify the training needed for mayors on water issues.

"We plan to give two training courses - one for domestic mayors and one for other developing countries," said NTCMC Director Wang Zhongping.

Wang said that China, together with other developing countries, faced great challenges posed by urbanization, as a huge proportion of the rural population continues to swarm into the cities putting pressure on the urban environment and city management.

"We are in urgent need of this kind of program," he said.

The NTCMC, a government-sponsored institution, was founded in 1983 to give professional and internationalized training to the Chinese mayors.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2007)