On December 1, the 11th International Conference on Agricultural Trade Policies (ICATP), co-organized by the Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre (ATPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was held in Beijing.

The past decade has been critical in the history of international agricultural trade. World agricultural and food markets are increasingly integrated. The role of emerging economies in global agricultural markets, including for China, has increased since the beginning of the 21st century. Developing countries are increasingly participating in international markets, with South-South agricultural trade which has expanded significantly.

Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, stressed in his opening speech that in the past ten years, China has actively participated in global division of labor and cooperation, fully opened up its agricultural product markets, and is expanding its global influence. China will actively tackle the challenges of insufficient agricultural competitiveness and increasing policy constraints, actively promote a fairer and more rational international agricultural trade order, make good use of the advantages of large-scale markets, and promote the coordinated development of agricultural trade and related fields.

During the past decade, the agricultural import and export in China has increased from 26.85 billion USD in 2000 to 216.81 billion USD in 2018. FAO has witnessed and contributed to this progress.

Nowadays, the outlook for the global economy has darkened. Trade policy needs to contribute to promoting economic transformation that helps achieve food and nutrition security. Vincent Martin, FAO Representative in China and DPR Korea, stated at his opening speech that FAO is committed to increasing its strategic engagement with China, leveraging its comparative advantage in the development of well-targeted trade policy responses to the ongoing rapid changes and transitions in food systems in the country and across the world.

More than 300 representatives from relevant fields attended the opening ceremony of the ICATP. After 11 years of development, the ICATP has become an open platform for the international exchange of cutting-edge research results and experiences of global agricultural governance.