Agri-food cooperation with China

The Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture have deepened their cooperation since 2005 when the ministries signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum was updated in September 2012. It covers nine different fields of cooperation: research, quality and safety of foodstuffs, biomass-based energy, environmentally friendly agriculture, livestock farming, animal health, aquaculture, cultivation of oats and agricultural machinery.

A public servant working group operating at the Director-General level has been set up to implement the Memorandum of Understanding. Cooperation will also be facilitated by creating a China-Finland Platform for Agricultural Development and Innovation (CF-PADI), which will gradually cover all fields included in the Memorandum.

The main objective of the CF-PADI is to develop commercial cooperation by marketing the safe and controlled Finnish “farm-to-fork” food chain in which advanced and innovative technology and know-how are used to produce high-quality, healthy and clean foodstuffs in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.

 

Further information: Mr Kimmo Närhinen, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 162 257, kimmo.narhinen@mmm.fi