On February 26th, Prof. Wu Kongming, President of CAAS, met with H.E. Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of Sierra Leone. Both sides exchanged views on deepening agricultural science and technology cooperation between the two countries.

Prof. Wu Kongming emphasized that both the Chinese and Sierra Leonean governments attach great importance to cooperation in agriculture and food security, which has led to the continuous deepening of agricultural cooperation. Existing cooperation between CAAS and Sierra Leone in rice laid a solid foundation for expanding bilateral cooperation. Wu suggested that in the future, under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and bilateral cooperation mechanism between China and Sierra Leone, further efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in key areas such as rice, animal production, and agricultural machinery. Additionally, as proposed, enhancing the training of young scientists and Ph.D. students from Africa in China and jointly building up the China-Africa Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Alliance (CAASTIA) would be crucial steps in ensuring food security and sustainable agricultural development for both countries.

Dr. Kpaka highly praised the important role played by the scientific and technological innovation of CAAS in enhancing China’s agricultural and rural development, and expressed his great willingness to promote the application of Chinese agricultural technologies in Sierra Leone and jointly safeguard global food security.

After the meeting, Dr. Kpaka and his delegation visited the National Crop Gene Bank and the National Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Park of CAAS.

Dr. Edward Sandy, Executive Director of the National Investment Board of Sierra Leone, and H.E. Rogers Soffa-woya, Deputy Ambassador of Sierra Leone to China, accompanied the visit. Prof. Sun Tan, Vice President of CAAS, and heads of Department of International Cooperation and Institute of Crop Sciences, CAAS attended the meeting.