site.btaAgricultural Cooperation Lauded as One of Most Efficient Platforms for China-CEE Ties

An international conference in Sofia on Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Association for the Promotion of Agricultural Cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries. The Association was established on China’s initiative and functions under the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Wang Min, Charge d'Affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria, thanked the Association for its efforts to bolster agricultural cooperation between China and the CEE countries, and acknowledged the Bulgarian Agriculture and Food Ministry’s contribution to these efforts. She said the Association has assisted the establishment of demonstration zones, two of which are situated in Plovdiv and Parvomai in South Central Bulgaria. The Association has also encouraged the building of exhibition facilities in China, including a national pavilion of Bulgaria in Hangzhou, a China-CEE agricultural exhibition centre in Ningbo and a permanent pavilion for products from CEE.

Wang said that every year the Association organizes the participation of CEE companies in agricultural exhibitions in China and promotes the development of online trade and logistics centres. A logistics hub for online trade and an exhibition hall for farm produce of China and CEE have been built in Plovdiv’s Trakia Economic Zone (Bulgaria) and the Yantian District of Shenzhen (China). The Agricultural University of Plovdiv is home to a demonstration centre for online trade.

According to the Chinese diplomat, agricultural cooperation is one of the oldest, most efficient, recognizable, and most widely supported platforms for China-CEE relations. Bilateral trade in farm produce has grown considerably, cooperation in farming technology has deepened, and the exchange of experts in the sector continues to develop steadily.

This year is also the 10th anniversary of Bulgaria’s accession to the Belt and Road Initiative, Wang said, expressing hope that the Association will keep playing its key role as a coordination and encouragement mechanism for China’s cooperation with the CEE countries in the field of agriculture.

The Association Director, Momchil Stanishev, said that 10 years after its establishment the centre is a cornerstone of cooperation between Sofia, Beijing and CEE. The decade has seen the emergence of partnerships involving the academic community, businesses and government institutions, many of them sealed with agreements.

Shandong Agricultural University President Leng Changjian noted that China-CEE cooperation is a territory of opportunities and challenges. Leng presented the university’s expertise in high-quality international education. He said the university has undertaken to build a bridge of cooperation with CEE.

During the conference, the Association for the Promotion of Agricultural Cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries signed an agreement on cooperation with Tarim University in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.