Nanjing Univeristy’s Center of African Studies (CASNJU) held a seminar on “African Agriculture, Food Security and China-Africa Cooperation“, online and offline, on the afternoon of March 28.

The seminar was supported by the China-Africa Joint Exchange Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the African Study Society of China.

Wu Peng, director-general of the Department of African Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the offline meeting and delivered a speech.

Zhang Zhenke, director of the CASNJU and secretary general of the African Study Society, presided over the seminar.

Before the seminar, Wang Zhenlin, a member of the standing committee of Nanjing University’s CPC committee and a vice president of Nanjing University, met with Wu Peng and other participating leaders and guests.

The seminar attracted more than 30 participants online and offline, including African scholars from Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire and the Central African Republic, Chinese experts and scholars involved in African agriculture and rural development, representatives from business enterprises and some professors and graduate students from Nanjing University.

Those who made offline presentations at the meeting included Wang Chaowen, president of Reference News, Sun Shuzhong, former Chinese ambassador to Rwanda and Morocco, Qi Guoqiang and Liu Chengfu, executive vice presidents of the African Studies Society, and Huang Xianjin, executive director of Huazhi Institute for Global Governance, Nanjing University.

Also attending the meeting were Yang Jing, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Province, and other guests and representatives from relevant departments.

The participants at the seminar held in-depth discussions on the current situations and challenges of the agricultural development, land policies, processing and trade of agricultural products and rural development in Africa, and the future development of Sino-African agricultural cooperation.

The participants agreed that the cooperation between China and Africa in agricultural and rural development boasts great potential and serves as an important area of cooperation for deepening China-Africa friendship, building a China-Africa community of shared future and achieving Africa's sustainable development goals.