Oct. 27 – China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have pledged to improve agricultural cooperation to help improve economic development and to prevent a food crisis.
China and ASEAN countries have agreed to a “Nanning Consensus” to allow more agricultural exchange and cooperation during a summit forum last week in Nanning, Guangxi Province. “Agriculture is a major field for strategic cooperation among China and the ASEAN members, which is an important part of the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA)”, Qin Ruixiang, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Guangxi, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
The seven areas for priority cooperation included: agro-industry and food security, new crop varieties and animal breeds, agricultural sciences and technology, biomass energy, agricultural processing and logistics, animal husbandry and fishery.
China and ASEAN have also agreed to maximize the allocation of resources like labor and funding to develop technology, personnel training and intensify agricultural investment in the region.
