On September 7, 2026, the first official meeting of the Technical Assistance Project to AU for the China-Africa Agricultural Modernization Cooperation Plan was held at the AU Headquarters. Chen Huaning, member of the Party Leadership Group and Director General of the Personnel Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and his delegation held in-depth exchanges of views with the AU agricultural department and signed the meeting minutes, marking the official launch of the project.

The AU side appreciated China’s substantial investment in and long-term support for agricultural cooperation with Africa, and stated that it will give full play to its continent-wide coordination advantages, actively cooperate with the expert team, and make every effort to ensure the smooth progress of the project.

The project aims to implement important initiatives put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2018 and 2024 Beijing Summits of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), with CAAS undertaking the implementation task. The Chinese and AU sides will jointly formulate the China-Africa Agricultural Modernization Cooperation Plan and the Action Plan, produce thematic research reports and a knowledge-sharing platform, with field research covering 24 African countries. The outcomes will closely align with the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) 2.0 Strategy, and are of great significance for enhancing Africa’s food security, reducing poverty and hunger, and promoting self-reliant and sustainable agricultural development.