BEIJING: China and the U.S. restarted their agricultural cooperation mechanism as China’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack co-chaired the seventh meeting of the China-U.S. Agricultural Cooperation Joint Committee in Washington on Thursday.
The two officials reiterated that the joint committee is an important channel for regular exchanges between the agricultural departments of the two countries, and pledged to cherish, carefully nurture, and ensure the stable operation of the mechanism.
Noting the two agricultural departments restarted the meeting on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S., Tang said that it is a landmark event in the history of China-U.S. agricultural relations and that China stands ready to work with the U.S. side to further promote bilateral agricultural cooperation and stabilize food and agricultural development expectations.
Vilsack said the U.S. attaches importance to cooperate with China in various areas of agriculture and is willing to work with China to create a favorable atmosphere for the healthy development of U.S.-China agricultural relations under the mechanism of the Joint Committee.
The two sides also exchanged views on climate-smart agriculture, food security, people-to-people exchanges and trade facilitation.
Thursday’s meeting is the first meeting since 2015 of the China-U.S. Agricultural Cooperation, which was established in 2003 as a forum for coordinating bilateral exchanges and cooperation in agriculture between China and the U.S.
