Guangxi boosts ASEAN-focused agricultural opening up

Guangxi has achieved remarkable outcomes in promoting international agricultural cooperation despite the impact caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, said Liu Jun, director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and deputy to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress, on Jan 21.

The fourth session of the 13th Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress commenced in Nanning that same day.

Guangxi, enjoying great advantages in terms of agriculture, sees enormous potential in the export of agricultural products. The region has launched a total of 22 projects for international opening up and cooperation in agriculture since 2013, planting more than 750 crop varieties experimentally in ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Brunei and Cambodia. These varieties have been planted on more than 4 million mu (266,666.67 hectares) of land in the aforementioned countries. 

Liu noted that the cooperation demonstration zone Guangxi built in Malaysia in 2020 has selected 30 crop varieties, conducted remote online technical training sessions, and completed part of its investment in infrastructure renovation and equipment acquisition.

The region will build new experimental zones in two border cities; namely Dongxing and Pingxiang. The Pingxiang experimental zone will cultivate a batch of companies for export-oriented agriculture with strong competitiveness, forming an industrial cluster.

A total of four companies or institutions have been newly registered in Guangxi in 2020 for investing in overseas agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries, with a contracted investment of $85.88 million, up 13.5 percent year-on-year. By the end of 2020, a total of 114 Guangxi agricultural companies had registered to "go global".