On 19 August 2025, the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) hosted a Briefing Session in Beijing for the upcoming 2025 ASEAN-China (Henan) Cooperation and Development Conference on Food and Agriculture (ACCFA). H.E. Mr. Wang Pu, Deputy Secretary General of the People’s Government of Henan Province, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Foreign Affairs Office of Henan Province, the People’s Government of Zhengzhou Municipality, and leading enterprises from Henan, together with representatives of the Embassies of ASEAN Member States (AMS) and Timor-Leste in China attended the event.

Secretary General Shi Zhongjun briefed on the preparatory work for the ACCFA, which will be co-hosted by the ACC and the People’s Government of Henan Province in Zhengzhou this October. He emphasized that agricultural cooperation has long been a key element of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and reaffirmed the ACC’s commitment to making the ACCFA a key platform for advancing practical cooperation between the two sides. Under the theme “Digital-powered Agri-food Cooperation, Innovation-driven Regional Growth,” the ACCFA will explore the full potential of whole-process agricultural cooperation, leveraging resources such as the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF) to deepen cooperation in smart agriculture, green development, and food security. To foster early exchanges on these priorities, the Briefing Session served as a platform for AMS, Timor-Leste, and China, together with Henan Province, to align cooperation needs for tangible results that will contribute to shared development and prosperity for all sides.

Representatives from Henan and Zhengzhou introduced the province’s strengths in grain production, storage, agricultural machinery manufacturing, facility agriculture, seed industry, agri-food processing, transportation networks, agricultural science and technology, and industrial clusters. They underscored the strong complementarities between ASEAN and Henan in advancing agri-food cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to promote the ACCFA by engaging with AMS to identify cooperation needs and priorities, and to deliver more substantive outcomes so as to inject fresh momentum into the ASEAN-China CSP.

Representatives from AMS and Timor-Leste noted that food security, smart agriculture, and green development are common priorities shared by all sides. They expressed their readiness to actively participate in the ACCFA, and to work closely with their respective agricultural ministries, enterprises, and research institutions to put forward concrete cooperation proposals. They also conveyed appreciation to the ACC and Henan Province for providing platforms and resources that support agricultural modernization in ASEAN, and voiced their expectation that the ACCFA will deliver tangible and impactful outcomes at an early date.