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Ministerial Session of APRC 35 Kicks Off

Source:MARA Date:2020-09-04

 

The Ministerial Session of the 35th FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC 35) was convened virtually on Sept. 3-4. Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, led the Chinese delegation and delivered a speech.

Zhang pointed out that in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, frequent natural disasters, and the increasingly alarming food security and nutrition situation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has steadily promoted and achieved new progress in global food and agricultural governance with more open, inclusive, transparent and efficient work. China highly affirms FAO’s efforts and will continue to offer its support.

Zhang reiterated that the more challenging the situation, the more important it is to stabilize the agriculture sector. He made three suggestions: 1) Ensure the supply and trade of agricultural products, facilitate the logistics of food and key agricultural products in order to stabilize agricultural markets and preserve trade order. 2) Conduct pragmatic cooperation and strengthen regional coordination to prevent cross-border animal and plant diseases and discuss control policies. 3) Share knowledge and exchange experience. Member countries in Asia and the Pacific are endowed with different resources and each has distinct advantages. Therefore, enhancing information sharing, experience exchange, technical cooperation and policy coordination helps make the most of each other’s strengths and achieve shared agricultural development.

The session was presided by Yeshey Penjor, Minister of Agriculture and Forests of the Kingdom of Bhutan which is the host country. Around 500 delegates, including the FAO director-general, ministers and vice-ministers of agriculture from 46 member countries in Asia and the Pacific, and participants from the private sector, civil society and academia, attended the session.

Relevant Annexes: