Zhang Zhu, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Silvio Erkens, Minister for Food Security, Fisheries and Horticulture of the Netherlands, co-chaired the 21^st meeting of the China–Netherlands High-Level Working Group on Agriculture in Beijing on May 19.  

Minister Zhang stated that China and the Netherlands enjoy a comprehensive cooperative partnership that is open and pragmatic. Furthermore, the bilateral high-level working group on agriculture is operating smoothly and bilateral agro-trade and investment are developing steadily. Practical cooperation in areas such as the seed industry, protected agriculture, livestock farming, and horticulture has become increasingly close, delivering fruitful results. He said that China remains committed to the principles of open development and mutual benefit and seeks to work with the Netherlands to foster a stable, transparent, and predictable environment for cooperation, so as to take cooperation in agro-trade, new quality productive forces in agricultural, and sustainable agricultural development to new heights.  

Minister Erkens stated that the Netherlands attaches great importance to agricultural cooperation with China and expressed support for China’s proposals on deepening bilateral agricultural exchanges and cooperation. He also said that the Netherlands seeks to work with China to continue to strengthen dialogue and communication and deepen cooperation in areas such as animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, agricultural S&T, saline–alkaline land improvement, and agricultural biodiversity.  

Zhang Zhili, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Pan Wenbo, Chief Agronomist, attended the meeting.