Vice Minister Chen Xiaohua met with Mr. Bernard Lehmann, Director of the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) of Switzerland, in Bern on July 1, 2016. The two sides exchanged views on enhancing China-Switzerland agricultural cooperation.
Vice Minister Chen noted that China and Switzerland are highly complementary to each other in agriculture and have great potential for cooperation. He suggested that both sides should promote cooperation in sustainable agricultural development, agro-product quality and safety, agricultural S&T, and so on. The two sides should take the opportunity of China-Switzerland Free Trade Zone to boost bilateral agricultural trade. Mr. Bernard Lehmann fully agreed with Chen on his proposal and expressed his willingness to make joint efforts with China to broaden bilateral cooperation.
After the meeting, the two sides signed the Statement of Intent on Strengthening Agricultural Cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of the Swiss Confederation. Both sides agreed to take the signing of the statement as a new start to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in animal husbandry, sustainable agriculture, feed and feed additive industry, so as to push forward the development of bilateral agricultural cooperation.