Wu Kongming, President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), met with Dr. Mohamad Zabawi, Director General of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), on Mar. 31. The two sides exchanged views on further deepening cooperation in agricultural science and technology (S&T). 

Wu said that thanks to the great attention paid by the Chinese and Malaysian governments, exchange and cooperation between the two countries in agricultural S&T is going from strength to strength. Under the guidance of MARA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Malaysia, the two sides spearheaded the establishment of the China–Malaysia Agricultural Science and Technology Cooperation Working Group, signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation, and reached consensus on key areas of cooperation. As China and Malaysia are highly complementary in agriculture, it is recommended that the two sides further improve the agricultural S&T cooperation mechanism, deepen S&T cooperation in crop breeding, plant protection, protected agriculture, and food processing, and enhance S&T personnel exchange and postgraduate training, thus jointly contributing to the agricultural development of the two countries.  

Dr. Zabawi agreed with Wu’s proposal and said his side is willing to further deepen cooperation with CAAS in agricultural S&T. He expressed his hope that cooperation between CAAS and MARDI could be deepened through cooperative research projects, personnel exchange, joint training of postgraduates, and joint academic seminars. 

Before the meeting, Zabawi and his delegation visited the National Agricultural Technology Innovation Park and the National Crop Germplasm Bank. Representatives from the Bureau of International Cooperation also attended the meeting.