​Jinan conference achieves global consensus in food supply matters

The three-day International Conference on Food Loss and Waste concluded in Jinan, Shandong province, on Sept 11.

The event highlighted global efforts in tackling food loss and waste and saw 10 international consensuses reached, according to Sui Pengfei, director general of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Held online and offline, the event was attended by ambassadors to China from 16 countries, agricultural ministers from 24 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, and representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"The conference is much more important for us. It brings the world together on one issue. It is not only a conference on food loss and waste - it is a conference to unite the world," said Gafar Karar Ahmed, Sudanese ambassador to China.

Themed "reducing food loss and waste and promoting global food security", the conference provided a platform for countries to discuss global concerns related to food supply.

Matteo Marchisio from the International Fund for Agricultural Development Representative in China noted during an interview that food loss and waste are becoming global problems.

"China is not exempt from this problem, and any success in reducing food loss domestically will have a global impact," he said.

China attaches great importance to international cooperation on reducing food loss and waste, said Tang Renjian, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, at the opening ceremony.

The nation will support the establishment of an international dialogue mechanism for reducing food loss to acquire more experience and exchanges in policies and regulations, Tang added.

The Jinan Initiative of the International Food Loss Conference was released during the conference, calling for countries to set common targets to deal with food loss and waste, and providing reference for countries to carry out specific actions to tackle the issue.

Consensuses were also achieved among countries for minimizing food waste in the process of food production, harvesting, storage, and consumption during the conference, according to Sui.

Jinan is an ideal host location for the conference as it has a leading advantage in agriculture and food production in China, said Luis Schmidt Montes, Chilean ambassador to China.

He noted that Chile is looking to learn from Jinan as the city has been developing towards modernization in agricultural production.

Jinan, capital of Shandong province, is playing an important role in providing a steady supply of high-quality agricultural products in the province and even in the country.

The city currently has 12 State-owned grain reserve depots and has formed a complete industrial chain that spans raw grain to production.

Advanced technologies have been widely used in grain storage in the city such as internal circulation temperature control technology and low-power ventilation technology. The grain loss rate in storage has been kept below 0.2 percent.

Furthermore, with the support of national ecological protection efforts and the strategy for high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, Jinan now faces new development opportunities.

As an important transportation hub in China, Jinan has more than 300 railways connecting 254 cities in the country and 204 airlines that travel to 114 cities at home and abroad.

Jinan joined China's "1-trillion-yuan club" for the first time in 2020 when its GDP hit 1.01 trillion yuan ($156.7 billion). The revenue of the information technology and high-end equipment industries both exceeded 300 billion yuan.

Jinan also enjoys a favorable international environment. The city is currently home to 81 of the world's top 500 companies and has 79 sister cities and friendly cooperation cities.

The conference will bring new development opportunities for Jinan to promote high-quality agricultural development, build a new highland for opening up to the outside world, and build a strong modern provincial capital in the new era, the organizers said.