SAIN Third Governing Board Meeting Held in Beijing

The third Governing Board meeting of SAIN was held in Beijing on 15-16 April 2013. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr Niu Dun, Vice Minister of Agriculture, China, and Professor Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser of Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK. The participants of the meeting included SAIN governing board members, working group co-chairs, and secretariats representatives.

At the meeting working groups and secretariats reported SAIN progress since the second Board meeting in May 2011 and SAIN work plan for 2013-2015. The Board reviewed current links between the two countries on policy, academic and business sectors; analysed future challenges of agriculture development faced by the two countries; proposed strategic direction of future SAIN development. The Board suggested SAIN should incorporate sustainable intensification in its future work and strengthen the links with policy and business sectors.

Professor Ian Boyd and Vice Minister Niu Dun praised SAIN’s progress and emphasized that SAIN should continue to make greater contribution in promoting UK-China sustainable agricultural development and global food security. MoA and Defra will continue supporting and fully using SAIN as a platform to deliver all-round agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

After the Governing meeting, the UK delegation also visited an integrated pig farming, biogas and horticulture system in the suburb of Beijing.