China attaches great importance to global governance on biosafety and biosecurity, Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Jian said on Monday while briefing reporters on the outcomes of the Regional Workshop on Implementing the Biological Weapons Convention and Promoting Biosafety and Biosecurity in Southeast Asia.
Jointly held by China and ASEAN's rotating chair Laos, the workshop took place from Wednesday to Friday in the metropolis of Shenzhou in south China.
Speaking at a regular press conference in Beijing, Lin said, "This is the first workshop jointly held by China and ASEAN countries on implementing the Biological Weapons Convention and promoting biosafety and biosecurity."
He noted the workshop delivered positive outcomes, and China and Laos jointly issued the Co-chairs Summary, which includes consensus in four aspects:
First, advance the modernization of biosafety and biosecurity governance and related capacity, by way of promoting exchanges and mutual learning.
Second, build political consensus for a collective effort in countering biosafety and biosecurity risks, so as to benefit humanity through biotechnologies.
Third, improve global biosafety and biosecurity governance, reaffirm the commitment to the Biological Weapons Convention and support relevant international and regional organizations in providing more public goods.
Fourth, explore follow-up actions, and strengthen regional cooperation and coordination in the field of biosafety and biosecurity through various ways, including holding workshop as such on a regular term.
He said that China attaches great importance to global governance on biosafety and biosecurity.
"We have included capacity building in biosafety and biosecurity governance in the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, listing it as a priority in international cooperation. Closer exchanges and cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries on biosafety and biosecurity will provide new impetus for the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership and contribute to global governance on biosafety and biosecurity," said Lin.
China attaches great importance to global governance on biosafety, biosecurity: spokesman
Chinese farming machines featuring cutting-edge smart technologies have become the highlight of the 2024 China International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, which took place from Saturday to Monday in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province.
The exhibition is dubbed as the "barometer" of China's agricultural machinery industry and one of the largest in Asia.
Chinese exhibitor Yang Shangxiang brought a new CVT tractor to the event, which can save a lot of labor for farmers and greatly enhance farming efficiency.
"The tractor displayed by us uses CVT transmissions, which means you can drive it forward or backward and change its speed by simply moving your fingers, without the need to press your foot on the clutch. This effectively saves labor for us and can enhance the farming efficiency by 30 percent," said Yang.
Other exhibitors have applied green and smart technologies on their products in order to win more customers and obtain a larger market share.
Latest data from the China Agricultural Machinery Distribution Association showed that the sales volume of China's homegrown automatic navigation systems for farming machines reached 110,000 units last year, marking a new historical breakthrough.
Foreign buyers were amazed by China's progress in the agricultural machinery industry as the farming machines made by Chinese enterprises have become more specialized compared with the past when one machine often served multiple purposes.
The complete agricultural machinery industrial chain built by China has allayed foreign buyers' worries about the post-sales repair and maintenance services.
"We have many labor problems to harvest these things, so I want to visit this expo. Yeah, it is very, very nice. Actually, I'm looking for these harvesters and also some planters here," said Srinivasa Rao, an Indian farm owner.
"We have a total of 20,000 hectares of farms across our country, on which we grow vegetables, wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes, sunflower seeds and other crops. We attended the exhibition many times before and come here again. We purchase more and more agricultural technologies and equipment from China now," said a Russian farm owner named Andrei Anatolyevich.
Hu Xiaosi, a farmer from east China's Nanjing City, wanted to purchase a higher-horsepower tractor at the exhibition as the old one couldn't meet his demands any more. Over the past few years, the land managed by him has increased from 800 mu (about 53.34 hectares) to 1,800 mu (about 120 hectares).
"In terms of agricultural machinery, the machines we bought five years ago have been gradually phased out by us because they can't satisfy the operation efficiency we need now. We have contracted a large amount of land in recent years, which needs high-horsepower and highly-efficient farming machines to operate," said Hu.
More than 2,600 Chinese and foreign exhibitors have signed up for the exhibition, which covers a total area of 250,000 square meters and attracted over 200,000 visits.
Intelligent farming machines highlight agricultural exhibition in Hunan
