On November 6th, the 16th Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum was successfully held in Shanghai as a concurrent event of the 6th China International Import Expo. The forum was hosted by the State Administration for Market Regulation and co-organized by the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. BaTeEr, Executive Vice Governor of the Hainan Provincial People’s Government, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered a speech.
BaTeEr, Executive Vice Governor of the Hainan Provincial People’s Government, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered a speech
Respected Vice Commissioner Tian Shihong, Vice Mayor Chen Jie, Secretary-General Zhang Ming, distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,
Good morning, everyone! It is with great pleasure that I find myself in the beautiful city of Shanghai today, participating in the 16th Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. On behalf of the People’s Government of Hainan Province, I would like to express my warmest congratulations on the successful holding of this forum and extend my heartfelt thanks to friends from all walks of life who have long cared for and supported the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. Over the past decade, the forum has built an excellent platform for interaction and exchange among the Belt and Road participating countries, playing an active role in deepening international cooperation in agriculture and food, enhancing the level of food and agricultural product safety, and has been significant in advancing the joint construction of the Belt and Road.
As a vital strategic point of the ‘21st Century Maritime Silk Road,’ promoting the joint construction of the Belt and Road is both a significant opportunity and a mission for the Hainan Free Trade Port. Currently, Hainan is fully leveraging its advantages in location, resources, and policies, pioneering international high-standard trade and economic rules, and deepening ecological agriculture and food safety cooperation in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. In terms of agricultural development cooperation, we are using our rich tropical resource advantages to focus on specialty agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, and tea. We are promoting innovation in tropical high-efficiency agriculture and seed industries, vigorously developing a series of food processing industries, and have seen the emergence of local specialty enterprises and brands such as Chun Guang and Xiang Tai. Through platforms like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the China (Hainan) International Tropical Agricultural Products Winter Trade Fair, we are strengthening agricultural cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, importing quality coconut and coffee products, attracting high-end food industries to Hainan, and helping local Hainan enterprises ‘go global’ to establish Hainan’s specialty brands. This year, in the first three quarters, Hainan's food exports to countries building the Belt and Road increased by 38.6% year-on-year. In terms of food safety assurance, we are vigorously promoting the construction of the entire inspection and testing industry chain, establishing the country’s first Nanfan Seed Industry Inspection and Testing Alliance, promoting the integration and development of inspection and testing institutions with the Southern Seed Industry, constructing a ‘Tropical Fruits and Vegetables Quality and Safety’ key laboratory, and encouraging comprehensive domestic and foreign inspection and testing certification enterprises to set up headquarters, branches, and joint laboratories in Hainan, escorting food safety.
Currently, Hainan is accelerating the construction of a globally influential China-characteristic Free Trade Port. We will implement the policy and institutional system of the Free Trade Port, make good use of preferential policies such as tax exemption for value-added processing and domestic sales in the Free Trade Port, vigorously develop the import processing trade of agricultural products, and deeply advance exchanges and cooperation with countries and regions along the Belt and Road in the fields of ecological agriculture and food safety, striving to achieve a series of constructive outcomes. We warmly welcome everyone to invest and start businesses in Hainan, to share in the new opportunities presented by the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and to jointly write a new chapter of mutual development and win-win cooperation.
Let us meet in Shanghai and see each other in Hainan! Thank you, everyone!
The theme of the forum is, ‘Deepening the Belt and Road Cooperation in Agriculture and Food: Jointly Creating a Better Life for Humanity.’ Leaders from the State Administration for Market Regulation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, as well as leaders from Shanghai, Henan, Hainan, and other provincial governments, representatives of provincial market supervision departments, representatives of relevant United Nations organizations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and embassies of South Africa, the Netherlands, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Tanzania, Senegal, among others, along with over 400 delegates from domestic and international enterprises, participated in the forum. Guests collectively deliberated on agricultural cooperation and food industry development, contributing insights and strategies for the high-quality development of agriculture and food industries in the Belt and Road Initiative, highlighting the role of the forum as a platform for policy interpretation.
2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. Over the past decade, the forum has been successfully held for 15 sessions within the framework of the National Food Safety Publicity Week and the China International Import Expo. The forum has solidly promoted high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road, extensively conducted exchanges and cooperation in the agricultural and food industries, played a significant role in the development and safety of agricultural food industries in the countries along the route, and facilitated smooth international trade among the Belt and Road countries.
