Address by CIDCA Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the International Forum on Hybrid Rice Assistance and Global Food Security

Address by CIDCA Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the International Forum on Hybrid Rice Assistance and Global Food Security

Beijing, November 12, 2022

Your Excellency Mr. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China,

Distinguished Diplomats,

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

First of all, I want to extend a warm welcome to you all on behalf of the forum host. My special thanks go to State Councilor Wang Yi who joins us today to deliver an important speech in the midst of his busy schedule. 

Food is the god for the people. Given the COVID-19 resurgences, intensifying regional conflicts, deteriorating climate change and environment, and increasing population, we are facing a growingly severe situation of world food security. Latest UN reports point out that nearly 30 percent of global population are in food insecurity and over 10 percent are on the edge of hunger. 

Against this backdrop, the international community places a higher expectation on the hybrid rice technology. In 1973, Chinese researchers, represented by Yuan Longping, made breakthroughs in hybrid rice technology that multiplied rice yield. Thanks to their great merit, the Chinese people said farewell to hunger. 

Hybrid rice makes China's foreign aid well-received around the world. A carrier of friendship from the Chinese people, the tiny hybrid rice seeds contribute to food supply worldwide, across the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific region. 

China also collaborates with over 140 countries and regions in agriculture. By setting up agricultural demonstration centers there, we cultivate agricultural talents and have provided a large amount of food aid. 

Recently, following the tide of times and people's will, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative and made food security one of the eight major cooperation areas. This year, China proposed a cooperation initiative on global food security, which provides China's wisdom and solution as another effort to address the global food security issue. 

Dear Friends, 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Hunan Provincial People's Government. It is Chinese government agencies' years of collective efforts that enable hybrid rice to benefit the whole world.  

I want to thank friendly countries concerned and UN agencies as well as diplomats and representatives here. It is the collaboration between China and all other parties that make hybrid rice take root across the world. These efforts contribute to the implementation of the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the realization of the Zero Hunger goal.