Vice Minister Yu Xinrong led a delegation to the United Mexican States and met with Dr. Enrique Sánchez Cruz, Director in Chief of the National Service for Animal and Plant Health, Food Safety and Quality (SENASICA) of Mexico, in Mexico City. The two sides exchanged views on strengthening bilateral agricultural cooperation.
Vice Minister Yu reviewed the development of agricultural cooperation between China and Mexico, noting that the bilateral cooperation mechanism has been improved and the foundation for S&T exchanges also consolidated. The bilateral agricultural trade has been growing rapidly and China has become Mexico's second largest trading partner.
For further agricultural cooperation, Vice Minister Yu made the following five suggestions.
1. To continue utilizing the bilateral agricultural cooperation mechanism, facilitate the Agricultural Subcommittee Meeting of the China-Mexico Intergovernmental Standing Committee in 2017 and implement the consensus on agricultural cooperation.
2. To enrich the content of S&T cooperation. The two sides will support the establishment of a tripartite cooperation platform comprising the agricultural research institutes from China and Mexico and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to promote the germplasm resources exchanges and personnel training, and enhance the mutually beneficial cooperation in research, development and promotion of advanced and applied modern agricultural technologies.
3. To promote the establishment of China-Mexico Agricultural Demonstration Center in China with the participation of agricultural research institutes and agribusiness from both countries, to conduct cooperation in breeding research and production demonstration of food crops, such as maize, to improve agricultural development in both countries.
4. To boost fisheries cooperation, conduct joint researches in areas of common interests and initiate the establishment of the fisheries research cooperation center.
5. To enhance cooperation in agricultural trade and investment and cooperation between import and export associations and chambers of commerce from both countries, and create platforms and mechanisms for business cooperation.
Dr. Sánchez agreed with Vice Minister Yu and expressed his willingness to facilitate the Agricultural Subcommittee Meeting of the China-Mexico Intergovernmental Standing Committee as soon as possible. He also pledged to support the establishment of the tripartite platform for agricultural S&T cooperation and intensify the multi-layer bilateral cooperation in agricultural technology innovation, trade and investment, among others.