Upon the conclusion of the "Open Trade and Investment' session of the Eighth Round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED) , Vice Minister Qu Dongyu attended the press briefing on China-US agricultural cooperation in Beijing on June 6, 2016.
Qu pointed out that China and the US have reached seven outcomes in agriculture in S&ED, four in the economic track and three in the strategic track.
Four outcomes of the economic track:
1. Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in agricultural biotechnology management and development, and improve supervision as well as research capacity in this regard.
2. The US side promised to accelerate the legislative procedure for Chinese poultry's early access to the US market.
3. Both sides agreed to support agribusinesses to carry out join research on agricultural S&T.
4. Both sides agreed to boost bilateral trade in agricultural processing.
Three outcomes of the strategic track:
1. Both sides agreed to work together to combat illegal fishing and enhance marine fishery resources conservation and recreational fishery.
2. Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in precision agriculture through exchanging and sharing experience in this respect.
3. Both sides agreed to develop strategic collaboration in crop breeding, animal disease prevention and control, agricultural processing, agricultural data disclosure, and so on.
Qu noted that China and the US have made great achievements in agricultural cooperation. The cooperative mechanisms have been improved, S&T cooperation has yielded fruitful results, and investment and trade have maintained sustained growth. The annual growth rate of China-US agricultural trade volume has exceeded 20% during the past five years. The trade volume of 2014 was nearly ten times higher than that in the beginning of China's accession to WTO.
Despite those impressive achievements, Qu noted that there is still great potential for China-US agricultural cooperation. China and the US are highly complementary to each other in agricultural development and we should further promote bilateral strategic cooperation.