Seminar on China-Africa Rice Value Chain Enhancement was Held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province
From 8 June to 10 June, Seminar on China-Africa Rice Value Chain Enhancement was successfully held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. The Seminar was jointly organized by WFP China and UN Office for South-South Cooperation and received the great support from CICETE, China-Africa Development Fund and WFP Regional Center of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition.
The Seminar was combined with offline and online sessions, including both in-house discussions and technical visit to rice reserve and processing facilities. The opening ceremony was followed by moderated discussions, focused on the overview of rice value chain in China and Africa, exchange discussion on rice value chain enhancement, country case show, free discussion on PPP for rice value chain in Africa and wrap-up.
Over 100 representatives from UN agencies, the Chinese government, embassies in China, research institutes, academia, financial institutions, and private sectors attended the Seminar. CICETE Director General a.i. Zhang Yi attended the Seminar and delivered a closing remark.
The Seminar was one of the activities supported under the Global South-South Development Center Project with an aim to provide opportunity to link both China and Africa concerned partners to share insights and exchange visions on solutions and pathways to enhance the actual cooperation, to create an enabling platform to smooth the cooperation on rice value chain development and facilitate Africa to benefit from the Chinese food security experience and expertise in agricultural development and to make contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals and Africa 2063 Agenda.
Background information:
A Joint Initiative on South-South Cooperation for Rice Value Chain Development in Africa was announced at the Seminar of China-Africa Ag-coop and Development by China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center, World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), African Union and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), during the period of the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in June 2019, Changsha, China.