The Eleventh International Conference on Agricultural Trade Policy (ICATP) was held in Beijing on Dec. 1. Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. 

Zhang said that China is proactively involved in international division of labor and fully opens up its agriculture market with significantly enhancement of large trading power status. With the continuously accelerating agricultural cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and diversification of trading partners, China’s global influence has been constantly expanding. Moreover, China will proactively deal with the challenges arising from insufficient basic competitiveness of agriculture and constraint of policy choice. With the focus on quality agricultural development and promotion of the overall target of agricultural opening up as well as implementation of the development theory of “innovation, coordination, green development, opening-up and sharing,  China will help to materialize the new pattern of more fair and more reasonable international trade order, making good use of the advantages of super big markets so as to push forward the integrated development of agricultural trade and other relevant sectors. 

This year’s conference was co-hosted by the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), attracting over 300 participants in the opening ceremony. After 11 years’ development, the ICATP has become an open platform for the exchange of cutting-edge research results and the sharing of advanced experience in global agriculture governance.