Recently, the Workshop on Healthy Culture of Tilapia for African Countries sponsored by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and undertaken by the Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences was successfully started. Liu Yongxin, Chief of the International Cooperation Division of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Tian Yubin, First-level Consultant of the Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Division of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Xu Pao, Director General of FFRC, attended the opening ceremony and inauguration ceremony and delivered speeches. The event was presided over by Dr.Jing Xiaojun, Chief of the Dept. of International Cooperation and Education of FFRC.

Director Xu Pao said in his speech that under the framework of South-South cooperation, FFRC has long been committed to “teaching people to fish” for African countries, actively contributing to China’s fishery wisdom and fishery solutions, actively sharing China’s fishery technology and fishery experience, and actively building a knowledge sharing platform to promote the development of African tilapia culture industry to a new level.

Chief Liu Yongxin said in his speech that under the new situation, FFRC will continue to play the role and influence of the “FAO Reference Center for Aquaculture and Inland Fisheries Research and Training” and “China-Africa Joint Center for Modern Agroechnology Exchange, Demonstration and Training (Jiangsu)”, and unite high-level international experts in the field of fisheries research and management to help the international scientific and technological cooperation in fisheries and the cultivation of high-level talents in fisheries at home and abroad to a new level.

First- level Consultant Tian Yubin, said that Jiangsu’s aquaculture technology is advanced, there are many scientific research institutes. FFRC has carried out a lot of innovative research in the field of fishery, which has laid an important foundation for Jiangsu’s fishery development and agricultural cooperation with Africa. He believed that with the opening of this workshop and the inauguration of China-Africa Joint Center as an opportunity, participants will definitely be able to master the key technologies and concepts of healthy tilapia culture, promote cooperation with technology, enhance friendship through cooperation, and create a better future for China-Africa cooperation.

Peter Daka, a fisheries official from Zambia’s Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, delivered a speech as the representative of the foreign participants.

A total of 107 participants from 17 countries including Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Namibia, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia participated in this opening ceremony. Representatives of the teachers, international students of FFRC, and all staff of the Dept. of International Cooperation and Education attended the event.

The workshop also marked the official establishment of China-Africa Joint Center for Modern Agrotechnology Exchange, Demonstration and Training (Jiangsu).