On 19 January, the project steering committee of the Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ) met at the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Berlin, Germany to review past project achievements and pass the workplan for 2024.
Mr. Dieter GOERTZ from the International Department at BMEL and Ms. Zhiping LI, deputy director general of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC) at the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), gave welcome speeches, stressing the importance of the DCZ as a platform for bilateral coordination in the agriculture and food sector and laying out their visions for the future direction of cooperation. The welcome addresses were followed by a detailed presentation of the 2024 workplan by DCZ managing directors Dr. Jürgen RITTER and Mr. Geng WANG. DCZ partners from GFA Consulting and the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) offered further comments before the workplan was officially accepted by the representatives from both agricultural ministries. DCZ implementation partner IAK Agrar Consulting also attended the meeting.
The project steering committee agreed on the “transformation of agri-food systems” as the key topic for 2024. Following up from the dialogues held at the 9th Sino-German Agricultural Week, the work of the DCZ in 2024 will focus on strengthening food security in both countries while protecting soil, water, and biodiversity. In a series of workshops, study visits, and field days to be organized in China’s most important agricultural provinces, experts from both countries will explore how agro-ecological approaches can be combined with smart, resource-saving technologies to promote the transformation towards a more sustainable, climate-friendly, and resilient agri-food system.
