On October 15, Prof. Yang Zhenhai, Secretary of leading Party Group of CAAS, met with Prof. Jean-François Soussana, Vice President of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE). The two sides exchanged views on deepening China-French cooperation in agricultural science and technology.

Prof. Yang Zhenhai noted that China and France share a long history and broad scope of agricultural cooperation. CAAS and INRAE share many things in common in terms of organizational structure, research areas, and personnel composition, providing a solid foundation and significant potentials for collaboration. He proposed that both sides further strengthen cooperation in the two existing China-French joint laboratories on wheat breeding and plant protection, respectively, while also exploring new mechanisms to expand cooperation into areas such as livestock and poultry germplasm conservation and utilization, animal disease prevention, and agricultural response to climate change. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of greater efforts in promoting exchanges and training of young scientists.

Prof. Soussana expressed that CAAS is one of INRAE's most important strategic partners in China and expressed expectations to further engage in comprehensive, multi-sector, and in-depth collaboration to jointly contribute to the high-quality agricultural development both in China and France.

Prior to the meeting, Prof. Soussana and his delegation visited the National Crop Gene Bank.

Scientific attaché from the French Embassy in China, along with senior officials from Department of International Cooperation and Institute of Animal Sciences of CAAS attended the meeting.