On March 16, sponsored by the FAO, undertaken by the Center of International Cooperation Service, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and implemented by FFRC, the “Capacity-building Workshop on Freshwater Aquaculture Value Chain Development and Food Security through South-South Cooperation” was launched under the framework of the FAO- China South-South Cooperation Program.The opening ceremony for the workshop was attended by Anping Ye, Director of FAO’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division;  AudunLem, Deputy Director of FAO’s Fisheries Division; Luo Ming, Counsel, CICOS; Xu Ming, Deputy Director General, CICOS; and Xu Pao, Director General of FFRC.

“Strengthening the aquaculture sector is essential for the global economy and to build back better from the COVID-19 crisis. Sharing experiences, solutions and good practices will be critical in this endeavor. This is also the philosophy behind FAO’s approach to South-South and triangular cooperation” said Anping Ye, Director of FAO’s South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division.  

Mr. AudunLem, Deputy Director of FAO’s Fisheries Division, emphasized that “This online workshop aims to share knowledge and enhance capacity building on freshwater aquaculture value chains and good practices, in order to guide a sustainable aquaculture industry chain and ensure food security, through adoption of modern aquaculture technologies and good practices; enabling sharing among farmers, government extension officers, and other involved stakeholders; addressing issues of sustainability, climate changes, biodiversity, social issues and limited access of knowledge.”

Luo Ming, Counsel of CICOS, explained that “In recent years, China has been committed to the extension of freshwater fisheries value chains, the applicable aquaculture technologies and models, and has accelerated the green development of the aquaculture industry.”

Director Xu Pao expressed his gratitude tothe CICOS and theFAO for their support and guidance. He said that FFRC would continue to give full play to itsadvantages of technology and platform as FAO Reference Centre for aquaculture and inland fishery research and training under the framework of South-South cooperation, help the development and integration of the world aquaculture industry chain through knowledge sharing and technology transfer, and make contributions to the construction of the world food security system in the post-epidemic era. Later, Director Xu Pao shared and exchanged views with the participants of the workshop on the “General Situation of China's Aquaculture Development and Fishery Cooperatives”.

The 16-day workshop will analyze the development of freshwater aquaculture industry chain and food security issues through five modules, including aquaculture industry development, genetic breeding, breeding models, feed and fish disease prevention and control, and market management. A total of more than 70 participants from 22 countries are invited to participate in the workshop, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Angola, Bahrain, Philippines, C?te d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Tanzania, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Lesotho, Myanmar, Yemen, Burundi, Nigeria, Thailand, Finland, Sweden, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa.