Zhang Zhili, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Princess Dugba, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Sierra Leone, co-chaired the second meeting of the China–Sierra Leone Joint Committee on Fishery and signed the meeting minutes in Beijing on April 3. 

Vice Minister Zhang noted that China and Sierra Leone enjoy traditional friendly relations, and bilateral fishery cooperation has played a vital role in promoting economic and social development, enhancing the food supply, and improving people’s well-being. Based on the principle of mutual benefit, China is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation with Sierra Leone in areas such as fishery resources conservation and development of the entire industry chain. Minister Dugba spoke highly of the results achieved in China–Sierra Leone fishery cooperation and expressed hope that China would continue to support Sierra Leone’s fishery development. The two sides held in-depth consultations and reached consensus on multiple topics including distant-water fishery, aquaculture, and fishery research. They agreed to jointly safeguard a stable environment to facilitate the scientific conservation and sustainable use of marine fishery resources; adopt flexible and efficient approaches to continue advancing cooperation in fishery resources surveys; and carry out cooperation in areas such as plan formulation, technology exchanges, and personnel training to propel the development of aquaculture in both countries.  

In October 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources of the Republic of Sierra Leone signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Fishery Cooperation. Under to the provisions of this document, the two sides set up the Joint Committee on Fishery to convene regular meetings for the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of fishery cooperation.