In order to strengthen the scientific and technological cooperation with countries along the “Belt and Road" Initiative, from September 3 to 4, 2024, HAAFS and Ayub Agricultural Research Institute(AARI), Pakistan, together held the signing ceremony for China-Pakistan cooperation on agricultural sciences and technology and China-Pakistan oil crop academic symposium in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. ZHANG Qiang, vice president of HAAFS, and Dr. Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, chief scientist of oil crops of AARI, attended and signed the Commitment of Cooperation(COC) as representatives of the two sides. Nearly 30 leaders and researchers from HAAFS participated in the event.

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Vice President ZHANG Qiang welcomed the arrival of Dr. Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, introduced the basic situation, the discipline setting, scientific research advantages of HAAFS and the basic agricultural information of Hebei Province, and expressed that he was very much looking forward to the in-depth exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the fields of common interest, so as to solve the common problems faced by the two countries in agricultural production and contribute to food security of the world.

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Dr. Saad expressed great honor to visit HAAFS and sign the COC on behalf of AARI. He reviewed the exchanges between the two sides in the field of oil crops in recent years, believing that this visit will be an important opportunity to promote the in-depth cooperation between China and Pakistan in oil crops and other research fields.

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After the signing ceremony, the two sides held an academic symposium on oil crops. ZHANG Meishen, the director of the International Cooperation Division, introduced the detailed information, the advantageous research fields, the achievements since the 14th Five-Year Plan and the international collaborations of HAAFS. By making a presentation titled as “Overview of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), Faisalabad, Pakistan and Avenues for Research Collaboration”, Dr. Saad showed the basic information, the scientific research progress and research results of sesame, rape, soybean, wheat, rice, maize and other crops of AARI, and put forward some cooperative research and communication methods. Dr. CUI Yanqin, Dr. WU Xintong, associate researcher ZHAO Cunpeng and researcher LI Aiguo of HAAFS respectively introduced the current industry situation, research achievements and cooperation of sesame, soybean, sunflower and rape, and conducted in-depth discussions on technical issues such as sesame waterlogging resistance, sunflower three-line hybridization, soybean hybridization and rape heat resistance. The two sides also exchanged views on the production, import and export of cotton, maize, vegetables and other crops of interest, climate differences and crop maturity.

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In the afternoon, Dr. Saad visited the Dishang experimental station of the Institute of Cereal and Oil Crops of HAAFS. Researchers from the teams of cotton, mung bean, maize, sesame and soybean introduced the breeding of new varieties and the innovation of germplasm resources, etc. Dr. Saad asked about the characteristics of new varieties, the application of cultivation technology and plant protection technology in detail. Finally, Dr. Saad visited the public laboratory of the Institute of Cereal and Oil Crops, and showed great interest in the instruments and equipment in the metabolomics analysis area, climate room and quality analysis area. He discussed the uses and characteristics of the instruments with the researchers, and praised the excellent laboratory conditions of HAAFS.

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The signing of the COC on agricultural sciences and technology and the holding of the oil crop academic symposium between HAAFS and AARI were concrete measures to actively implement the national "Belt and Road" Initiative, deepen the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan and strengthen the pragmatic cooperation between the two sides. Both sides indicated that they will continue to carry out in-depth cooperation and exchanges in areas such as crop breeding, crop cultivation technology and agricultural talents training, and play a positive role in realizing complementarity and mutual benefit.

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