On December 5th, 2017, Prof. Tang Huajun, President of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) met with Mr. Philippe Mauguin and the delegates from French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). The two sides exchanged ideas on deepening partnership in agricultural science and technology.

Prof. Tang introduced the general information and the latest progress of CAAS to the French delegations. He said that, the cooperation and exchange between CAAS and INRA can be traced back to the 1980s. The two academies are very similar in terms of type of organization, research fields and personnel composition, and have the natural advantage of cooperation. Over the past few decades, the two academies have initiated fruitful cooperation in areas such as crop genomics, plant protection and food safety, joint research platform building, project cooperation research and personnel exchanges. It is hoped that the two sides can further clarify areas of mutual interest through regular scientist summits and unfold more in-depth bilateral cooperation in environmental and climate change, biotechnology and animal epidemic prevention and control. CAAS’ innovative project and INRA’s Meta-Program could be of great help to achieve the above aspiration. At the same time, the two academies are proposed to strengthen exchanges and cooperation under the multilateral frameworks such as CGIAR and FAO.

Mr. Philippe Mauguin fully agreed with Prof. Tang. He extended the expectation to locate the starting point for cooperation with CAAS under the Belt and Road Initiative. On the basis of the existing cooperation, INRA will develop a more pertinent cooperation mechanism with CAAS by establishing a cooperation platform and convening scientist summits among other forms. Further and deepened cooperation in agricultural science and technology between the two academies is expected in large-scale international research projects such as the "Global Wheat Research Plan", climate change influence, cross-border animal disease prevention and control, etc.

Dr. Gong Xifeng, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, Mr. Dai Xiaofeng, Director of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Mr. Li Xinhai, Deputy Director of the Institute of Crop Sciences and Mr. Dong Hongmin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture attended the meeting.