China’s Agriculture Minister Han Changfu holds talks with EU Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development
China's Agriculture Minister Han Changfu held talks with Mr. Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, in Brussels on 20 April 2017. The two sides had extensive and in-depth discussions on enhancing China-EU agricultural cooperation, particularly in the areas of animal health quarantine, agricultural market access, geographical indications and WTO agriculture negotiations.
Minister Han recognized the achievements of bilateral agricultural cooperation and highly appreciated Mr. Hogan for his sincere efforts in strengthening agricultural cooperation with China. He noted that China and the EU shares great potential for cooperation in green agriculture development, agricultural trade and investment, as well as agricultural heritage conservation. China encourages EU enterprises to invest in China’s modern agricultural development. Minister Han invited the EU delegation to the China Agricultural Trade Fair in late September this year, and put forward a proposal to convene the China-EU agro-processing forum concurrently with the Fair.
Mr. Hogan said that the EU highly values agricultural cooperation with China and is willing to facilitate the docking between EU “Horizon 2020 program” and China’s "five great moves on green agricultural development”, in order to draw on each other’s strengths and promote common agricultural development.
On 21 April 2017, Minister Han and Mr. Hogan signed the Joint Statement on the Establishment of an EU-China Project on Capacity Building for Young Professional Farmers and Agricultural Professionals at the EU headquarters, vowing to facilitate exchanges and training of young farmers and strengthen the agricultural talent pool.
Source: Chinese MOA Information Office