Vice Minister Qu Dongyu met with Mr. Luke Hartsuyker, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, in Beijing on Nov. 14, 2016. The two sides exchanged views on strengthening agricultural cooperation.
Vice Minister Qu noted that in recent years, China and Australia have witnessed remarkable progress in agricultural cooperation. The bilateral agro-trade, in particular, has been growing rapidly with a total trading volume of USD 9.03 billion. Australia has become China's third largest supplier of agricultural imports.
For sustainable development of the Sino-Australia agricultural cooperation, China is willing to work closely with Australia to explore new growth points of the agro-trade and realize a mutually beneficial and win-win outcome. China welcomes Australia's comments on the five cooperation projects under the Joint Cooperation Framework for the Expansion of Cooperation Areas between the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources of Australia, and is looking forward to continuing consultation with Australia at the working level, in a bid to launch the projects as soon as possible.
Mr. Hartsuyker said that agriculture plays a vital role for both countries. The implementation of China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) will contribute to the already strong bilateral agro-trade relations. In the future, the Australian side hopes to further expand the agricultural export to China and welcomes China's investments in its agricultural sector, so as to sustain the sound and stable bilateral agricultural cooperation.