Join Hands for Agricultural and Rural Modernization  

Keynote Speech by Tang Renjian

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, The People’s Republic of China

at the Second China-LAC Agricultural Ministers’ Forum

25 February 2021

Distinguished Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mexico, Victor Manuel Villalobos,

Dear colleagues,

Good day!

It is my pleasure to meet you virtually and discuss approaches to bring China-LAC agricultural cooperation up to a higher level in the post-COVID era.

Over the past year, the pandemic wreaked havoc on agricultural and rural development across the globe. According to FAO’s estimates, its Food Price Index surged 3.1% in 2020, and at least an additional 83 million people were affected by hunger. Countries rose to COVID-19 challenges and worked hard to stabilize agricultural production.

The Chinese government attaches great significance to agricultural output and supply. As stressed by President Xi Jinping, a stable agricultural sector is all the more important in the face of risks and challenges. Thanks to coordinated efforts to contain virus spread and safeguard agricultural production, China embraced its 17^th consecutive year of bumper harvest with the grain output reaching a historic high of 669 million tons. Moreover, China’s goal for poverty alleviation has been accomplished as scheduled.

Over the years, China and LAC countries have remained close and friendly partners in the field of agriculture. Notably, China has become a leading market of LAC farm products, including soybean, beef, pork, and fruits. Last year, China-LAC agro-trade grew by 9.6%, reaching 54.2 billion USD, of which 51.8 billion were imports by China, up by 10% from 2019. Such robust growth despite the impacts of COVID-19 evidenced the resilience and potential of China-LAC partnership. China's shift to a new development paradigm featuring “dual circulations”, and its commitment to broader and deeper opening-up is set to create more space and opportunities for China-LAC agricultural cooperation.

As President Xi has repeatedly pointed out, mankind is a community with a shared future, and solidarity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon of the international community to defeat the virus. China is ready to build consensus and strengthen cooperation with LAC countries to embrace a higher level of China-LAC agricultural cooperation in the post-COVID era. To this end, I want to share with you the following suggestions:

First, we need to better align our development strategies and strengthen policy dialogue to make feasible plans for agricultural cooperation. Currently, China is making full-fledged efforts to implement the rural revitalization strategy, leading to a shift of its priorities agricultural and rural development. LAC countries are also endeavoring to advance agricultural modernization and improve the well-being of rural residents. Our two sides need to fully leverage the China-LAC cooperation mechanisms to draft sound cooperation plans and be innovative in cooperation modes. We should also strengthen dialogue and cooperation within multilateral frameworks like FAO, OIE, WTO and G20. These efforts will contribute to the common progress in modernizing agriculture and rural areas both in China and LAC countries.

Second, we need to step up science and technology cooperation to boost high-quality agricultural development. China and LAC countries have respective strengths in agricultural resource, technology and equipment. Our two sides can discuss the possibilities of establishing such collaborative platforms as joint seed banks, laboratories and demonstration farms and explore ways to launch collaborative programs on targeted scientific and technological innovation. China stands ready to provide assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean to the best of its capabilities. We are committed to the establishment of an agricultural technology demonstration and training site in the LAC region, so as to advance our cooperation in human resources training and development.

Third, we need to expand economic and trade cooperation through promoting deep integration of our agricultural industries and value chains. The vastly huge Chinese market is the most promising in the world, of which we wish that LAC countries can obtain a larger share. To this end, our two sides can scale up trade cooperation with the aim to expand the agricultural trade to 100 billion US dollars in 2030. Meanwhile, we need to step up cooperation on agricultural investment in a bid to raise China’s accumulated agricultural investment in Latin America and the Caribbean to 5 billion US dollars in 2030.

Dear Colleagues, China and the Latin America and Caribbean have a broad prospect for cooperation in the post-COVID era. Let us all come together and forge ahead side by side to usher in a brighter future for agricultural and rural cooperation between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thank you!