An international fair scheduled in Beijing for October will showcase China's monumental achievement in agriculture, while at the same time demonstrating the country's readiness to further open the sector to the outside world, a senior agricultural official said Monday.
The China International Agricultural Exposition will publicize the country's agricultural policies and features, and help bring in advanced foreign funds, agro-technology, equipment and management experience, said Vice-Minister of Agriculture Qi Jingfa.
Qi, speaking at a preparatory meeting for the country's top-level agricultural exhibition, said that agriculture is the sector that has witnessed the most substantial changes since the country launched its reform and opening-up drive some two decades ago.
The country has scored bumper grain harvests five years in a row since 1995 -- with annual outputs exceeding 490 million tons, and the supply of most farm products is outstripping market demand, according to Qi.
Already 175 million rural residents are no longer engaged in agricultural production, and the number of rural residents without adequate food and clothing has been reduced from 65 million in 1995 to 30 million last year, he said.
With the farmers well on their way to a comfortable life and the market-oriented reforms taking root in rural regions, it is time to hold such an international agricultural exhibition to help sustain the agricultural expansion, according to the vice-minister.
"The agricultural exposition will not only display various high-quality products, it will also feature high-tech and new agricultural methods,'' Qi said. "Such an event will push the country's agricultural development.''
The official said he expected that the displays and demonstrations at the exhibition will help visitors understand the development trends of China's agriculture.
To meet that end, lectures and seminars should be featured at the exhibition, Qi suggested.
They may focus on agricultural structural readjustments, development of the western regions and China's accession to the World Trade Organization, he said.
Based on the theme of "development and co-operation,'' Qi said, the international exhibition will highlight projects in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to attract co-operative partners from within China and from other parts of the world.
A panel of experts will choose the best brand names for the show from thousands of famous, special and top-grade agricultural products that will be on display in the National Agricultural Exhibition Hall.
The China International Agricultural Exposition will be held in the hall from October 25 to 30.
(China Daily 02/06/2001)
