On December 15, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs held the awarding ceremony of the “Sino-African Modern Agricultural Technology Exchange Demonstration and Training Joint Center” in Haikou City, Hainan Province. Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech via video link. Vice Governor of Hainan Province Liu Pingzhi, AU representative in China Ambassador Osmane, and Ambassador Wang Ke of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were invited to attend the event. Liu Yingjie, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), and Zhu Jian, Member of the Party Committee and Chief of the Division of Research of FFRC, attended the awarding ceremony on behalf of the CAFS and FFRC respectively.
Vice Minister Ma Youxiang first congratulated the 4 units of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (Hainan), the Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (Jiangsu), the Biogas Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Sichuan) , and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base of Yangling Demonstration Zone (Shaanxi) for being the first batch of joint centers for Sino-African modern agricultural technology exchange, demonstration and training. The establishment of a number of Sino-African joint centers for modern agricultural technology exchange demonstration and training in China is a pragmatic measure to implement President Xi Jinping's important initiative and an important part of the further implementation of the “China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035”.
At the awarding ceremony, Peter Daka, a former participant of FFRC and a senior aquaculture officer from the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of Zambia, delivered a speech as the representative of the African participants. He said that the knowledge and technology imparted by FFRC had greatly benefited him, making him continuously improve his professional ability and work efficiency; at the same time, he shared what he learned with his colleagues and fisheries practitioners, which has greatly promoted the development of the local fishery industry.
As the FAO Reference Centre for aquaculture and inland fishery research and training, FFRC has been actively contributing China's fishery wisdom and China's fishery solutions under the framework of South-South cooperation for a long time, helping African countries to improve their fisheries; actively sharing China's fishery technology and China's fishery experience to help reduce poverty and hunger in Africa; actively building a knowledge sharing platform. FFRC will take this award as an opportunity to fully implement President Xi Jinping's solemn commitment at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Dakar Action Plan, and make new contributions to opening a new era of China-Africa relations and building a new era of China-Africa community of destiny.
