On April 13th, 2011, while Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was visiting China, CAAS and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) launched the China-Brazil Joint Laboratory of Agricultural Sciences. This pushed forward China-Brazil cooperation on agricultural technologies and implemented the Memorandum of Understanding between CAAS and EMBRAPA on establishing a joint laboratory and promoting cooperation on agricultural technological innovation, signed during President HU Jin-taos visit to Brazil on April 15th,2010. Dr. ZHAI Hu-qu, President of CAAS and Mr. Pedro Antonio Arraes Pereira, President of EMBRAPA attended the opening ceremony.

In his speech, Dr. ZHAI pointed out that China and Brazil were two major agrarian nations among the developing countries, and both had powerful national agricultural research mechanism and that the two countries were highly complementary in agriculture and enjoyed great prospects of cooperation. It was his wish that the joint laboratory would effectively drive forward mutual cooperation and exchange on biotechnologies, renewable energies, germplasm resource exchange and personnel training and exchange.

Mr. Pereira said in his speech that EMBRAPA attached great importance to its cooperation with CAAS on agricultural technologies and that by establishing the joint laboratory he hoped to build a platform for technological cooperation in agriculture and natural resources, accelerate the application of relevant technologies in industries and lift both sides’ international standing in the area of agricultural biotechnologies.

According to the work plan, CAAS will establish a joint laboratory in EMBRAPA in 2012, China’s first overseas joint laboratory of agricultural sciences. This will be a milestone and represent a significant step of Chinese agricultural technologies “going abroad”.