On September 10, 2021, Director-General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Wu Peng attended and addressed the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2021 Summit via video link upon invitation.
Wu Peng said that since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), agricultural cooperation between China and Africa has developed rapidly. China has helped African countries build agricultural demonstration centers, continued to send agricultural experts, carried out agricultural and technical cooperation, and supported the development of specialized industries such as bamboo and Juncao cultivation in Africa. According to the Report on Chinese Investment in Africa released by the China-Africa Business Council two weeks ago, there are at least 120 Chinese agribusinesses in Africa; the cultivated area of China's rice production project in Mozambique has reached 30,000-40,000 mu (equals to 2,000-2,666.67 hectares); and Chinese companies have signed cotton plantation agreements with over 200,000 farming households in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other African countries. China is sincerely interested in expanding imports of agricultural products from Africa. At present, the annual China-Africa trade volume of agricultural products has exceeded 7 billion U.S. dollars, and over 350 kinds of African agricultural food products are sold in China. The African Products Online Promoting Season that we held a few days ago was aimed at promoting the sales of African agricultural products in China.
Wu Peng pointed out that a new session of the FOCAC will be held in Senegal at the end of this year, with enhancing agricultural cooperation as one of the main topics. China will support its domestic enterprises in increasing agricultural investment in Africa, continue to send agricultural experts to African countries, work with the African side to train agricultural and technological specialists, help African countries combat natural disasters, and increase grain output and farmers' income, in order to realize food security in Africa at an early date, and make new contributions to the building of an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future.
Themed "Pathways to Recovery and Resilient Food Systems", the AGRF 2021 Summit was co-hosted by the non-governmental organization "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" and the Kenyan government. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Board Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J. Mohammed, ministers from Kenya and other African countries, representatives of the African Union (AU) Commission and the AU Development Agency, Minister for Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, officials of the United States Agency for International Development, and representatives of relevant enterprises and agencies attended the meeting.