The Government of China has renewed its financial support for the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), hosted in Beijing, for another five years starting 2021. 

An Amendment to this effect to the existing Administrative and Financial Agreement for CSAM between China and ESCAP was signed by Mr. Zhang Taolin, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, on 26 April 2021. The financial contribution from China to CSAM was also announced by Mr. Ma Zhaoxu, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, on 27 April during the 77th Commission session in Bangkok. China’s commitment will strengthen CSAM’s ability to carry forward its initiatives, design and implement projects for enabling food security and rural development in the region, and continue to support progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

In recent years, as one of the five regional institutions of ESCAP, CSAM has enhanced technical cooperation among member States by enabling extensive exchange of information and sharing of knowledge, strengthening institutional capacities, and promoting regional norms and standards as well as agro-enterprise development for sustainable agricultural mechanization in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Among its achievements, two CSAM initiatives have been selected by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation as good practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for sustainable development. Moreover, since the outbreak of Covid-19, CSAM has helped strengthen the response of member States in leveraging the potential of mechanization to build back better from the impact of the pandemic in the agricultural sector.  

An independent evaluation of the Centre whose report was submitted to the Commission last year noted CSAM as the only recognized regional multilateral institution dedicated to promoting sustainable agricultural mechanization in the Asia-Pacific region which has been operating efficiently. The renewed commitment of support from the host country will help the Centre in addressing the increasing demand for its services in accordance with the Centre’s Five-Year Development Strategy.