China strengthens South-South cooperation to promote agricultural development

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China will work with all parties to deepen South-South cooperation and jointly promote sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas under the global development initiative, a Chinese agricultural official has said.

Tang Renjian, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, made the remarks at a high-level international event titled "Strengthening South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Global Agricultural Development." The event was held Monday by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the context of the recent launch of Phase III of the China-FAO South-South Cooperation (SSC) Program.

"South-South and Triangular Cooperation is one of the key channels to address the challenges posed by global hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and inequality," said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu in his opening remarks.

Tang noted that China believes in a shared future for humanity and looks forward to working with the FAO and other partners to strengthen exchanges and deepen cooperation, contributing to the mission of fighting hunger and alleviating poverty.

The China-FAO SSC Program began in 2009 when a 30-million-U.S. dollar China-FAO trust fund was established to conduct technical cooperation among countries in the Global South. The program includes sharing knowledge, skills, and successful initiatives in specific areas, such as agricultural development, and addressing the impacts of the climate crisis.

China contributed a new 50 million U.S. dollars for Phase II in 2015. Following the recent signature of the General Agreement of the Trust Fund (Phase III) between the government of China and the FAO in 2021, an additional 50-million-U.S. dollar fund was injected to support Phase III.

FAO-China SSC projects currently operate in 20 countries, including Uganda and Sri Lanka, and have deployed over 1,000 experts to countries in the Global South.