The 1st International Symposium on Fruit Science and Technology Innovation among Belt & Road countries was held in Huludao city, Liaoning province from October 22 to 24,. The theme of the symposium is "Fruit tree science and technology innovation and sustainable development among Belt and Roadcountries".

Mr. Cao Yongsheng, Director General of Research Institute of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Mr. Xu Ming, Director of Bilateral Partnership, Department of International Cooperation, CAAS, Mr. Liu Ge, Director of Science and Technology Bureau of Huludao City, Liaoning Province, Mr.François Laurens, Deputy Director General, Institute of Horticulture and Seed, French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

Mr. Cao Yongsheng introduced the science and technology cooperation between Pomology Research Institute, CAAS and its partners in France, Italy, Uzbekistan and other countries under the "Belt and Road" initiative over the recent years. He stressed that taking the opportunity of this meeting, the Pomology Research Institute will further strengthen its international collaboration with other institutions on fruit tree science and technology innovation to promote the construction of first-class disciplines and to enlarge its international cooperation network.

Mr. Xu Ming said that fruit industry is an important part of agriculture and makes increasing contribution to ensure food security, biodiversity, and sustainable development of agriculture. Different countries have special fruit tree varieties and technologies of their own. Exchanges and discussions among experts from “Belt and Road” countries on the development of fruit industry are of great importance to enhance the scientific and industrial cooperation in this field.

During the opening ceremony, Pomology Research Institute of CAAS signed 9 bilateral and multilateral scientific and technological cooperation agreements respectively with Institute of Research on Horticulture and Seeds(IRHS), Bioversity International(IPGRI)for Central Asia(Bioversity-CA),National Republic Center of Genetic Resources Tajik,Kyrgyzstan National Agrarian University named after K.I. Skryabin, Horticulture and forestry department (KNAU-HFD),Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Islamic Republic of Pakistan，Fruit Growing Institute, Bulgarian Agricultural Academy（FGIBAA）, and Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University（SAU）.

At the meeting, 18 experts from 9 countries made presentations on the topics of fruit germplasm resources collection and new variety breeding, the management of cross-border fruit pests, fruit cultivation techniques for high quality and efficiency. New varieties of apples, pears, grapes and the products of wine, pear juice, dried pears etc developed by the Research Institute of Pomology were also displayed during the meeting,.

More than 70 foreign and domestic experts joined the meeting. The meeting is chaired by Mr.Cheng Cungang, Deputy Director General of Pomology Research Institute.