Chinese ambassador calls for deeper U.S.-China cooperation in agriculture

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- As a highlight of China-U.S. pragmatic cooperation, agricultural cooperation is well-grounded and highly-complementary between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has said.

"Since the (China-U.S.) phase-one trade deal was signed in 2020, China has been faithfully fulfilling the agricultural procurement commitment," Qin said as he delivered remarks to the opening of the China-U.S. Agricultural Roundtable on Tuesday. He was referring to a trade agreement signed between the two countries during the Donald Trump administration.

"As a result, our agricultural trade registered a quick comeback from the pandemic and trade frictions, and rose to 46.54 billion (U.S.) dollars in 2021, with China's imports reaching 39.02 billion dollars, up by 64.2 percent year-on-year," said the ambassador.

Noting that the United States now sells more agricultural goods to China than to any other country or region in the world, Qin said the sound trade relationship has enabled each U.S. farmers to export "more than 11,000 dollars of agricultural products to China on average" last year, a record-breaking achievement for the U.S. agricultural industry.

"Agriculture is an important part of the friendly cooperation between China and the United States. As our agricultural production increasingly face the restraints from population, resources and the environment, and COVID-19 and climate change poses new challenges to global food security, deeper agricultural cooperation will not only benefit both countries' agriculture and people, but also carry strong significance to global food security and agricultural development," the ambassador said.

Qin called on the participants of the roundtable to "take today's opportunity to share ideas on the innovative development and win-win cooperation of agriculture, so as to find new opportunities and inject new impetus to the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations."

Co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the U.S. Heartland China Association (USHCA), the event features three virtual dialogues convened for enterprises, educational institutions and think tanks, respectively.

Founded in 2003, the USHCA is committed to building stronger ties between China and 20 U.S. states that stretch from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.