Han Jun, Secretary of the CPC Leadership Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), met with Jorge Luis Tapia, Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, in Beijing on July 12 at the invitation of the Cuban side. Deputy Prime Minister Tapia was in China to attend the Second High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.   

Secretary Han said that under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the special friendship between China and Cuba has withstood international changes. The two countries have enjoyed deep and solid cooperation while building a community with a shared future and achieved significant results in agricultural cooperation. China will earnestly implement President Xi Jinping’s key instructions and work with Cuba to achieve continuous progress in bilateral agricultural cooperation.  

Secretary Han noted that in 2007, the ministries of agriculture of both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation and established the China–Cuba Joint Committee on Agricultural Cooperation. In recent years, China and Cuba have co-developed the China–Cuba Agriculture Demonstration Zone and carried out pragmatic cooperation in areas such as sericulture, moringa, livestock, and grains. Going forward, China and Cuba should work together to strengthen cooperation in areas including rice planting, livestock and poultry breeding, potato cultivation, aquaculture, and personnel training. The two countries will also push for early implementation of agricultural aid projects.  

Deputy Prime Minister Tapia strongly agreed with the three global initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping, and expressed his appreciation for China’s brotherly friendship and assistance in agriculture. He said Cuba hopes to learn from China’s development experience and establish more pragmatic cooperation projects with China, so as to bring tangible benefits to both countries through China–Cuba agricultural cooperation.  

Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of MARA, and Pan Wenbo, Chief Agronomist of MARA, attended the meeting.