The 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting was held in Brasilia on April 17. The theme of the meeting was "Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Agriculture through Cooperation, Innovation, and Equitable Trade among BRICS Countries". Zhang Zhili, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, led the Chinese delegation and delivered a keynote speech. 

Vice Minister Zhang pointed out that BRICS countries are major emerging markets and agricultural powers, which play a pivotal role in safeguarding global food security. The Chinese government attaches great importance to issues related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, consistently prioritizing agricultural development, farmers’ income increase, and rural revitalization. In the past year, China reached a new record high in grain production, made steady progress in green transformation, registered significant advances in agricultural sci-tech innovation, strengthened the integration of smallholder farmers with modern agriculture, and achieved closer cooperation with BRICS countries in agro-trade. Under the current circumstances, BRICS countries should pursue high-quality development and high-level cooperation to jointly address the multiple challenges affecting the sustainable and healthy development of global agriculture and trade. To this end, Vice Minister Zhang put forth three proposals: First, focus on food security and poverty eradication, leverage complementary strengths, and deepen pragmatic cooperation in areas such as sci-tech innovation and digital agriculture. Second, enhance multilateral coordination and safeguard common development. Third, uphold openness and inclusiveness, firmly protect the multilateral trading system with WTO rules at its core, and build a fairer international trade order and environment for agriculture. 

The meeting was chaired by Carlos Fávaro, Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. Representatives from BRICS countries attended the meeting and adopted two outcome documents: the Joint Declaration of the 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting and the BRICS Land Restoration Partnership. 

During his stay in Brazil, Vice Minister Zhang participated in a roundtable with the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock and agro-product importers and exporters. He also visited local agricultural technology and seed companies.