Three new international cooperation projects funded by the ‘Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program’ were launched by the Department of International Cooperation of CAAS in early 2020, aiming to enhance the collaborative innovation among CAAS institutes and with global partners.

‘In addition to achieving the project goals, we need to open our minds and to make international cooperation the main force driving the leapfrog development of agricultural science and technology innovation’, said Dr. Sun Tan, Vice President of CAAS at the project meeting on June 8, 2020.

The Center for International Agricultural Research (CIAR) is the coordinating organization for two of the three projects, namely “CAAS–FAO Regional Innovation Platform Construction” and “Agricultural Technology Demonstration in African Countries”. The Agricultural Information Institute (AII), hosting organization for CIAR, plays a major role in promoting closer cooperation with FAO．

The above two projects are jointly implemented by several institutes of CAAS, including the Institute of Crop Sciences, Institute of Plant Protection, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Agricultural Information Institute, Institute of Apicultural Research, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, and Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Over 40 scientists from these institutes participated in the project meeting to report the project activities for the first half of the year and discuss plans for the next half.

The COVID-19 epidemic strengthens, instead of weakening, the demand for closer international cooperation in food and agriculture and we need to adopt new approaches and strategy for cooperation in such situation, said Dr. Nie Fengying, Deputy Director General of AII and CIAR.

By Wang Jing and Hu Huameng

wangjing01@caas.cn huhuameng@caas.cn