After reporting onboard as Head of UNAPCAEM, Mr. Amitava Mukherjee paid a courtesy visit on 31 July 2008 to Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the focal point for UNAPCAEM in the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Bou Shorgan, Vice President of CAE extended a warm welcome to Mr. Mukherjee. They had a very nice discussion on the development of the Centre.

The Vice President expressed his happiness about the Chinese Academy of Engineering being the focal point for UNAPCAEM. He reiterated the Government of China pays due attention to the Centre.

On behalf of the Executive Secretary and ESCAP, Mr. Mukherjee thanked the Government of China and CAE for their continued support to UNAPCAEM. He introduced an account of what UNAPCAEM has been doing in food chain management, conservation agriculture and enterprise development, as also the restructuring that is going on in ESCAP. The Head expressed the intention of converting UNAPCAEM into a centre for South-South Co-operation and disseminating best practices and developing policy options as well as networking with think-tanks in the areas of agricultural innovations and related disciplines.

Mr. Bou Shorgan expressed his solidarity with the centre and asserted that CAE will continue to support UNAPCAEM. As the focal point, CAE is responsible for coordination, within its domain, on administrative and financial matters concerning UNAPCAEM.