The President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Wu Kongming and FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu signed the CAAS-FAO Innovation Platform Agreement online on Dec. 12, 2022. 

As an important part of the CAAS-FAO collaboration mechanism, this innovation platform will organize joint events on innovation at regional and global levels to support global sustainable development. At the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) held during the UN General Assembly in September, the establishment of this platform was included in several practical measures to propel GDI cooperation.  

President Wu pointed out that the CAAS-FAO Innovation Platform attest to the long-term and sound cooperation between CAAS and FAO. It has been incorporated into practical measures to promote GDI cooperation. President Wu put forth three suggestions regarding the platform’s future work. First, the two sides shall make full use of the technical and human resources of CAAS to turn the innovation platform into an agricultural S&T governance platform that targets the Asia-Pacific region and serves the whole world. Second, the two sides shall conduct practical cooperation at various levels and in various fields. Third, the two sides shall leverage the role of the platform in South-South cooperation, thus to generate spillover effect in agricultural development worldwide.  

Director-General Qu stated that the innovation platform is committed to be a governance platform for agricultural S&T that targets the Asia-Pacific region and serves the whole world. He hoped that the establishment of the platform will conducive to the sharing of China’s practices and experience with other countries and regions, agricultural development in developing countries and the transformation of regional and global agricultural and food systems.  

Ni Hongxing, Class-I Inspector (Director-General level) of MARA Department of International Cooperation, Zhang Wen, Class-I Inspector of MARA Department of Science, Technology and Education, Laurent Thomas, FAO Deputy Director-General, and Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General, witnessed the virtual signing ceremony. CAAS Vice President Sun Tan presided over the event.