MOA Department of International Cooperation
23 Feb. 2011
On 21 Feb., Niu Dun, Vice Minister of Agriculture, met with Catherine Woteki, Under Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and her delegation. The two sides exchanged views on strengthening the bilateral communication in agricultural science and technology and some other issues.
Under Secretary Woteki said that USDA attached importance to the scientific and technical exchange and cooperation with the Chinese side and hoped to establish a cooperation mechanism for further exchange of crop germplasms between the two countries to facilitate progress in crop breeding in the two countries. Vice Minister Niu noted that the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and USDA had had well-established cooperation mechanisms already and the two sides should carry out germplasm exchange and other collaborative activities in the field of agricultural science and technology under the existing mechanisms. The exchange of crop germplasms should be conducted according to the needs of scientific research on the basis of mutual benefit after it passed the examination and approval process in line with respective laws and regulations and the results of such collaborative research should benefit agricultural development in both countries.
Vice Minister Niu pointed out that the Chinese side was willing to formulate the comprehensive agricultural cooperation plan jointly with the US side in order to put into practice the consensus on strengthening China-US agricultural cooperation reached by the two agriculture authorities and also hoped that the US side could accelerate resolution of the issue of Chinese poultry meat export to the US and some other issues.
Under Secretary Woteki agreed with Vice Minister Niu on his views and said that she looked forward to enhancing the cooperation with MOA for advancement in agricultural science and technology in both countries.
Officials from the Department of International Cooperation, the Department of Sectoral Policy and Law, the Department of Science, Technology and Education and the Department of Crop Production also attended the meeting.
