On April 19, 2016, Prof. LI Jiayang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and President of CAAS, met with Dr. Daniel Gustafson, Deputy Director General of FAO. Both parties exchanged views on further promoting partnership under the framework of “South-South Cooperation”（SSC）and “One belt and one road” initiative. CAAS Vice President Prof. WU Kongming was present at the meeting.

Li briefed FAO guests on CAAS research priorities, the Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP), postgraduates’ education, talent recruiting, etc. Li also pointed out that CAAS has always been devoting to cooperating with other countries as well as international organizations in the field of Agriculture S&T innovation, and is ready to share the advanced experience with other developing countries. CAAS appreciates the positive results achieved by continuing collaboration between both parties, and would like to further work together with FAO to summarize the experience while vision the future. Under the framework of SSC signed between Chinese government and FAO, it is hoped that the two sides can innovate collaborative modalities and formulate corresponding action plans, so as to push ahead the SSC to a higher level.

Gustafson highly valued the successful collaboration between FAO and CAAS. He noted that China’s rapid development on agriculture has led prominent impact to the world. Having the unique and advanced development experience, China should reinforce its role in the framework of SSC and interact more with other developing countries. He hopes that the two sides deepen the cooperation at institutional level, closely combine the “Belt and Road” Initiative with SSC, and continuously make efforts to poverty reduction and world food security.

Li also introduced the action plan drawn up by CAAS in line with the “Belt and Road” Initiative.