On October 19th, Dr. LI Jia-yang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and President of CAAS, met with the visiting Dr. Robert Zeigler, Director General of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) at CAAS headquarter in Beijing.


Dr. LI Jia-yang firstly expressed, on CAAS’ behalf and in his personal name, the congratulations to Dr. Robert Zeigler for IRRI’s annual council meeting in Shenzhen, China from 15th to 17th in October. He also expressed his appreciation for IRRI’s important role in increasing the rice yield, promoting the green revolution as well as the enhancing International agricultural S&T cooperation. LI also pointed out that CAAS is satisfied with the progress in all respects of the bilateral cooperation between IRRI and CAAS, including project cooperation, staff exchange and co-sponsored big events, etc. Robert Zeigler briefed Dr. LI on the IRRI’s latest research progress and strategic plans. He said that IRRI would keep a close partnership with CAAS in the fields of rice breeding and biotechnologies.

In terms of the suggestions and plans for future cooperation, Dr. LI reiterated that CAAS will continue to focus on the areas of the rice yield, nutrition, quality and safety so as to meet the demands of the global food security.