From Dec. 14 to 15, the 3rd BRI Sino-Pakistan Agriculture Forum organized by Huazhong Agricultural University kicked off in HZAU. More than 100 experts from agricultural universities and research institutes in China and Pakistan participated in the forum online and offline. And participants had in-depth exchanges under the theme of promoting green and sustainable agriculture through collaborative innovation to promote agricultural cooperation and development between China and Pakistan under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI).
Opening Ceremony of the 3rd BRI Sino-Pakistan Agriculture Forum (Photo / Wu Miao)
The attendees include Li Zhaohu (president of HZAU), Qing Ping (vice president of HZAU), Zhu Xiaobin (deputy director of Hubei Foreign Affairs Office), as well as other leaders, relevant scholars of various colleges and student representatives. China Agricultural University, Northwest A&F University, Tarim University and other Agricultural universities in Pakistan participated in the opening ceremony online. Prof. Qing presided over the opening ceremony.
Ambassador Moin ul Haque gives an online speech. (Photo / Wu Miao)
Minister-counselor Xie Guoxiang gives a speech online. (Photo / Wu Miao)
Moin ul Haque, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to China, and Xie Guoxiang, minister-counselor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan were invited to deliver speeches online.
Ambassador Moin ul Haque said the forum was an important part of the 70th anniversary celebration of the establishment of Sino-Pakistan diplomatic relations. He spoke highly of the achievements of early cooperation between Chinese and Pakistan universities, and the outstanding contributions of HZAU in hybrid rice breeding and animal vaccine development. He hoped that HZAU could continue to deepen cooperation with Pakistan and build closer ties with more universities in Pakistan. He said in such a new era of technological innovation, science and technology can change the society and help lift rural areas out of poverty and narrow the gap between rural and urban areas. “In the past four decades of reform and opening up, China has made notable achievements in the green revolution, and continuously improved its leadership in international agriculture.” He noted that Pakistan regarded agriculture as one of its major engine of economic growth, thus “China miracle” was worth learning from. He hoped to learn from China high-yield seed cultivation, cold chain storage and transportation, and increase added value for Pakistani agriculture.
Xie Guoxiang expressed warm congratulations for the Forum on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He said the forum was very significant, timely and had a great impact on the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Xie stressed: “Agriculture is the most promising sector for China-Pakistan cooperation. First, we should continue to strengthen agricultural cooperation mechanisms and promote all-round exchanges; Second, we need to accelerate the export of the agricultural products to China and develop bilateral agriculture trade; Third, we need to continue to build an information platform to promote cooperation in agriculture investment.” He hoped that the scholars in this platform could share advanced agricultural technology and experience in rural development to improve Pakistan’s agricultural modernization and promote the high-quality building of CPEC. And we must ensure that the CPEC construction and cooperation will widely benefit the people of the two countries, thus facilitating the development of Sino-Pakistan cooperation and the building of a China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era.
Zhu Xiaobin gives a speech (Photo / Wu Miao)
Zhu Xiaobin (Deputy Director of Hubei Foreign Affairs Office) said HZAU has always leveraged its unique advantages to contribute to the prosperity of Hubei Province, and actively promoted the development of agriculture, food, health and other industries. HZAU has played a great role in helping Hubei province expand its economy and build up its strength in science, education and agriculture and eco-environment. These efforts have laid a solid foundation for profound scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation in agricultural education with Pakistani universities. He hoped to take this forum as an opportunity to further promote cooperation with Pakistan in agriculture, science and technology, education and other fields.
Several presidents from universities in China and Pakistan delivered speeches in the forum. They respectively introduced their own universities and agricultural cooperation results, and expressed their expectations for the future of China-Pakistan cooperation in the hot fields. They noted that agricultural universities, research institutes in Pakistan have long-term friendly cooperation with HZAU. In recent years, the frequent exchanges and joint doctoral training programs have allowed more Pakistani students to study in China. Given the current scenario and problems of agricultural development in Pakistan, they expected that in the future, both sides can promote to enhance the cooperation through joint programs and cooperative research. They said the BRI offers a good opportunity for exchanges and mutual learning between China and Pakistan, and the profound friendship between the two countries is an important guarantee for long-term cooperation. They hoped to deepen cooperation through the forum and make China-Pakistan friendship everlasting.
President Li Zhaohu delivers a speech (Photo / Wu Miao)
On behalf of HZAU, Prof. Li Zhaohu extended his warm welcome and heartfelt appreciation to the participants in the closing speech. He said that it has been four years since the BRI Sino-Pakistan Agricultural Forum was jointly initiated by HZAU and six Pakistani universities. Over the past four years, HZAU has been committed to strengthening strategy integration, looking for cooperation opportunities, and deepening cooperation through mutual visits, joint programs, and research projects. Both sides has made concerted efforts to reap more benefits from cooperation.
Li pointed out that HZAU would continue to be dedicated to promoting multi-field and in-depth cooperation and exchanges among universities and academic institutes in the two countries. HZAU would collaborate with other sides to establish Sino-Pakistan agricultural cooperation funds, invest special funds to promote technology and technology training, establish scientific research seed funds, launch joint training program, enhance mutual recognition and credit transfer in certain disciplines and specialties, and promote sustainable and high-quality development of Sino-Pakistan agricultural cooperation. He believes that with the strong support of both embassies and governments, this forum will greatly enhance the understanding and exchanges between the universities of the two countries.
Prof. Iqrar Ahmad Khan deliverers a keynote speech (Photo / Wu Miao)
Prof. Deng Xiuxin makes a keynote speech (Photo / Wu Miao)
Later, Prof. Iqrar Ahmad Khan (president of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad) and Prof. Deng Xiuxin(academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering) made keynote speeches respectively.
With the theme “Agriculture Development Scenario in Pakistan”, Prof. Iqrar Ahmad Khan elaborated on the problems of agricultural development in Pakistan and shared their research. He said agriculture would be promising in future, and hoped that China-Pakistan cooperation could reach a new height, and help Pakistan find solutions to the problems and challenges in agricultural development.
Prof. Deng made a report entitled “Modern Agriculture and Cultivating Agricultural Talents ”. He analyzed the characteristics of modern agriculture and the requirements for talents, explained the contradiction between supply and demand for professionals in agricultural science and technology, and put forward suggestions in view of nation and university.
The Attendees (Photo / Wu Miao)
On Dec. 15, in the 5 sub-forums, over 100 scholars from China and Pakistan discussed the subjects of biotechnology and genetic improvement of cotton, animal husbandry and disease prevention and control, crop functional genomics, horticulture and health, cross-border E-commerce and digital agricultural technology cooperation.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2021/1215/62260.shtml
Translated by: Fan Rusi
Supervised by: Guo Haiyan
