3rd China-CELAC ministerial forum on agriculture held in east China

JINAN, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The third ministerial forum on agriculture between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) opened on Tuesday in the city of Weifang, east China's Shandong Province, focusing on cooperation and green development.

The event has attracted 290 attendees, including 24 ministers or vice ministers and 13 ambassadors from 25 countries, as well as representatives of agricultural research institutes, enterprises and regional organizations.

In a live video speech, Han Jun, Party chief of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that over the past decade, China and CELAC have achieved fruitful results in their agricultural cooperation.

China has established agricultural cooperation mechanisms with 19 CELAC countries, he noted. Agricultural trade and economic cooperation have been expanding rapidly, with bilateral agricultural trade doubling to over 81 billion U.S. dollars from 2014 to 2023, he added.

Han made four proposals in his speech, including one on implementing agricultural cooperation projects focused on common concerns like food security and green development, and another on working to double agricultural trade again in the next decade.

His other proposals were on strengthening sci-tech exchange and capacity-building, and on deepening poverty reduction cooperation to make greater contributions to the building of a world free of poverty and hunger.

Laura Elena Suazo Torres, Honduran secretary of agriculture and livestock, praised China's efforts in promoting South-South cooperation on food.

She said that she expects China-CELAC agricultural cooperation to be elevated to a new height, with increased exchange and experience-sharing in the areas of sustainable agricultural production capacities and agricultural sci-tech.

The event also includes sub-forums on agricultural trade and poverty reduction.