Recently, the 2019 annual meeting of China-EU Urban Agriculture the project “Sino-European Innovative Green and Smart Cities (SiEUGreen)” hosted by the Institute of Vegetable and Flower (IVF), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) was held in Beijing. 17 well-known research institutions and enterprises from China and Europe, including CAAS, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy (NIBIO) attended the meeting.

The meeting pointed out that strengthening cooperation between China and EU in developing urban agriculture and improving the efficiency of resource utilization will contribute to the construction of smart cities in China and EU and promote the development of global circular economy. Experts from IVF, NMBU and NIBIO made inspiring presentations on urban sewage recycling, urban planting, etc. The representatives exchanged views on the development of urban agriculture in China and Europe.

The project was jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China （MOST）and the European Commission, involving 19 institutions from 11 countries including China and Norway. It focuses on the cooperation in the recovery and utilization of urban sewage and waste resources, to maximize the utilization of urban sewage and kitchen waste, and reduce environmental pollution and waste discharge. Through cooperation, it will build a bridge for knowledge and technology sharing between China and Europe, provide technical support and international cooperation platform for urban agricultural development, and explore a green path for the development of modern urban agriculture.

Youjun Zhang, DG of IVF, and Xiaohua Ke, DDG of the Department of International Cooperation attended the meeting.

By Shi Weijuan (shiweijuan@caas.cn)