Dutch delegation visits Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

A high-level delegation from the Netherlands visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on Thursday and expressed hopes for further bilateral agriculture cooperation.

During the visit, Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Carola Schouten, who led the delegation visiting China, also planted a friendship pine tree on the campus of CAAS in Beijing with Tang Huajun, the academy's president.

Schouten, who is also minister for agriculture, nature and food quality for the Netherlands, spoke highly of agricultural cooperation between CAAS and Wageningen University & Research, a top university in life sciences and agriculture in the Netherlands, as well as between the two countries as a whole.

"Cooperation between the two institutes has intensified over the past two decades," she said. "We are looking for more ways to forge partnerships with our Chinese counterparts, the government and researchers."

"Today's event of planting trees together signifies the start of a new era of collaboration with Wageningen University & Research, and I hope we are going to have more fruitful collaboration in a wider range of areas in the future, for both countries," Tang, CAAS president, said.

The two institutes can intensify cooperation in areas including food safety, environmental protection, intelligent agriculture and talent cultivation, he said.

Arthur Mol, president of the university, said cooperation between the two countries is very important to tackle challenges facing increasing yield and sustainable agriculture.

The university has been expanding cooperation with CAAS in recent years, which has extended from agricultural production to areas in social economy and environment, he said.