"The United Nations has offered tremendous assistance to China’s development in the past 40 years. We are deeply grateful. Now the time has come for China to support the United Nations, so as to support other countries in their development efforts. We shall engage in joint consultations to ensure inclusive development,” said Ambassador Niu Dun, Permanent Representation of the People’s Republic of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, on the occasion of the visit of a senior-level delegation from the Chinese Government to the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (ESCAP-CSAM) on 1 March 2017.

The delegation, led by Ambassador Niu Dun, included Mr. Weiguo Li, Director-General of the Department of Agricultural Mechanization of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Min Liu, Director-General of the China Agricultural Machinery Testing Centre (CAMTC), Mr. Shengyao Tang, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and other officials.

Ms. Yutong Li, Head of CSAM, briefly introduced the mandate of CSAM, its comparative advantages and recent activities. She highlighted CSAM’s strategic focus on contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), as well as on assisting member States in developing their agricultural mechanization strategy. Strengthening South-South Cooperation and partnership building with UN agencies, financial institutions, NGOs and the private sector was also emphasized. Five platforms were highlighted to be utilized for this purpose including policy dialogue, data collection and publishing, standard setting, capacity building and promotion of trade and cooperation.

Ambassador Niu Dun concurred with the direction of CSAM’s development as an institution and expressed appreciation for the clear thinking on the Centre’s future role. The DG of the Department of Agricultural Mechanization appreciated the existing collaboration between CSAM and his Department. He also emphasized that agricultural machinery should remain the focus of the Centre, particularly in the area of enhancing technical and product exchange. The DG of CAMTC applauded the existing collaboration between CAMTC and CSAM, particularly through the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM) initiative. The Deputy DG of the Department of International Cooperation acknowledged CSAM’s achievement in recent years and expressed the hope that the Centre would maintain the momentum. He concurred with the Centre’s focus on policy, standardization and technology, products and human resources.

The delegation members reiterated on several occasions their full support for the work of CSAM and the willingness of the Chinese Government to engage in partnership.