The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, travelled to China this past week to engage with senior government officials, and to meet with key Chinese and Canadian industry leaders to facilitate new business opportunities and promote Canada's high-quality agriculture and agri-food products. The visit reaffirms Canada's readiness to work with China to enhance our agricultural trading relationship.
Building on recent high-level meetings between Canadian and Chinese leaders, Minister MacDonald met with senior government officials to raise Canada's trade priorities and broaden opportunities for deepened cooperation.
In Beijing, he met with the Minister of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC), Sun Meijun. The ministers emphasized shared priorities in animal health, plant health, and food safety. They agreed to renew the Memorandum of Understanding between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the GACC and increase technical collaboration. Technical working groups at the officials level will meet this month. They agreed that these efforts will contribute to addressing common priorities in global food security and realizing economic prosperity for both countries. Minister MacDonald also highlighted the importance of restoring market access for Canadian agricultural products in China.