Zhang Zhili, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Maxim Markovich, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, co-chaired the 12th meeting of the China–Russia Agricultural Cooperation Subcommittee of the Committee for Regular Meetings Between the Chinese and Russian Heads of Government, in Moscow on Aug. 27. The two sides held in-depth discussions on topics including agro-product and food trade as well as access to each other’s markets, agricultural science and technology, the establishment of the China–Russia Pilot Demonstration Zone for Agricultural Cooperation, and seed industry cooperation.
Vice Minister Zhang noted that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, China and Russia have had frequent and close institutional dialogues on agriculture. Furthermore, bilateral agro-trade has steadily increased and agricultural technology exchange has become increasingly active. Zhang said that China seeks to work with Russia to tap cooperative potential in areas such as the seed industry, agricultural machinery, and biotechnology, as well as push for early establishment of the China–Russia Pilot Demonstration Zone for Agricultural Cooperation, thus making new contributions to the high-quality development of China–Russia relations.
Deputy Minister Markovich spoke highly of the achievements in bilateral exchange and cooperation across all areas of agriculture. He said that Russia seeks to work with China to jointly implement the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, strengthen communication and coordination between the agricultural departments of both sides, and expand cooperation in areas such as agro-trade, investment, science and technology, and market access, so as to provide new impetus for continuously consolidating the friendly relations between the two countries.
Later in the afternoon, Vice Minister Zhang met with Vitaly Altabaev, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, at the invitation of the Russian side. They exchanged views on expediting the establishment and operation of the China–Russia Pilot Demonstration Zone for Agricultural Cooperation. Zhang said that setting up the pilot demonstration zone is an important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries. He noted that the two sides have reached agreement on the content of a relevant memorandum of understanding and should move quickly to refine construction plans, bring together supportive policies from both sides, and attract quality companies to establish a presence in the zone. Deputy Minister Altabaev agreed with China’s proposals and said that Russia seeks to work with China to negotiate and sign an intergovernmental cooperation agreement on the establishment of the pilot demonstration zone and support business operations and key projects through policies under the international priority development zone.
No.11 Nongzhanguan Nanli,Chaoyang District,Beijing China (100125)
