Forum on High-quality Development of Agricultural Trade and China International Food & Ingredients Expo Held
21 October 2021, China: The Forum on High-quality Development of Agricultural Trade and the 6th China International Food & Ingredients Expo were held in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, on Oct. 16. Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), attended the forum and delivered remarks.
Ma pointed out that food is essential to human survival, and food security makes social stability possible. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on global food security. The Chinese government always gives top priority to the issue of securing a stable supply of agricultural products. With less than 9% of the world’s arable land, China produces about 23% of the world’s food and feeds its 1.4 billion people, making important contributions to global food security. As a responsible country, China has actively helped other developing countries to increase their comprehensive grain production capacity through South-South cooperation and other approaches.
Ma said that MARA has been making good use of both domestic and international markets and resources. MARA also gives full play to the role of agricultural trade in ensuring food supply and security, revitalizing the agricultural sector, and facilitating domestic and international circulation. Currently, MARA is focusing on the high-quality development of agricultural trade, and is vigorously pushing for the transformation and upgrading of agricultural trade through the establishment of centers for high-quality development of international agricultural trade. MARA facilitates the participation of domestic market entities in global competition, and also brings abundant, high-quality agricultural products to the global market, so as to increase the efficiency of China’s agricultural sector, and boost rural employment and income.
Ye Zhenqin, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, and representatives from international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme of the United Nations, attended the forum. The expo attracted almost one thousand companies from China’s 29 provinces and from 16 countries like Germany, Demark, Russia, and so on. More than 10 special events were held concurrently, themed on hotspot topics like common prosperity, preferential agricultural policies under the RCEP, central kitchens, and so forth.
