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Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China and Ray Smith, Chief Executive of the Ministry for Primary Industries of New Zealand, co-chaired the sixth meeting of the China-New Zealand Joint Committee on Agriculture in Auckland on October 22. They reviewed the two countries' agricultural cooperation since the fifth meeting in 2016, and discussed priorities for future bilateral cooperation.
Zhang said agricultural cooperation between China and New Zealand has made great progress since 2016. The cooperation mechanism has been continuously refined; personnel exchanges have been strengthened; agricultural trade and investment been boosted, and cooperation in the dairy and horticulture industry has been expanded. In particular, agricultural trade enjoyed a rapid growth as the trade volume was increased by 56.6% in 2018 in comparison with 2016. Agriculture is an important content of China-New Zealand relationship. China is willing to consolidate the existing cooperation results and expand the scope of cooperation under the framework of the China-New Zealand Agricultural Growth Partnership. The two countries shall enhance cooperation in the fields of horse health, meat hygiene and kiwifruit, and learn from each other so as to push forward agricultural development of both countries.
Smith spoke highly of the remarks and proposals for the agricultural cooperation by the Chinese side, saying that New Zealand remains committed to working with China to implement the results of this year's meeting and deepen agricultural cooperation of the two countries.
The two sides jointly signed the Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of China-New Zealand Joint Committee on Agriculture. During his visit, Zhang also conducted field study on China-invested agricultural projects in New Zealand and the development of New Zealand's agriculture and animal husbandry.