Vice Minister Niu Dun met with Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Beijing on June 4, 2014. The two sides exchanged views on strengthening sustainable agricultural development and enhancing the role of Center for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM), a Beijing-based regional institution of the ESCAP.
Niu highlighted ESCAP's great efforts in facilitating regional cooperation and integration, and coordinating the sustainable regional economic and social development. He noted that MOA has always attached special importance and provided support to CSAM. As MOA is the Chinese window of CSAM since 2013, it has increased its participation in the activities hosted by the Center, and encouraged competent administrative bodies, associations and social organizations, academic institutes as well as enterprises to develop partnerships with CSAM. It is believed that all those efforts have yielded satisfying results.
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar spoke highly of China's achievements in sustainable economic and social development, and extended her appreciation for the substantial support of the Chinese side. She also expressed the willingness to work closely with China in the future, to promote the South-South Cooperation among Asian and the Pacific countries, and to build CSAM a comprehensive center for sustainable agricultural development.