Your Royal Highness Princess Marie,
Minister Esben Lunde Larsen,
Mayor Carl Christian Ebbesen,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening!
It is my great pleasure to join you at today’s event. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark, I would like to extend my warm congratulations on the successful opening of the International Food Summit.
It is obvious that if a nation wants to move forward, it needs to solve the problem of food and clothing. As a nation with the population of 1.35 billion, China faced significant challenges in addressing this problem.
Thanks to the Chinese government’s great attention and the Chinese people’s hard work, now the problem of food and clothing is almost solved. In 2015, China’s total grain output reached 620 billion kilos, marking the 12th consecutive year of growth.With 6 percent of the world’s freshwater and 9 percent of the world’s farmlands, China feeds 20 percent of the world population. Now, China plays a major role in food production and consumption, and is the world’s largest food importer and exporter. It is fair to say that China’s success in solving its own people’s food and clothing problem is a great effort and contribution to the stability and development of the world.
The international community spoke highly of China’s agricultural development, efforts in food security and poverty reduction. In June 2015, the China was given the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Award by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Dear friends, while addressing the problem of feeding its people, China is facing another challenge, namely, how to provide food that is safe and of good quality. Food safety is one of the greatest challenges for China. In recent years, severe illegal activities jeopardizing food safety took place in China, such as melamine contained milk powder, illegally recycled cooking oil and Clenbuterol residue problem.
Today, China’s food trade volume accounts for 15 percent of the world. Everyday, the 1.35 billion Chinese consume more than 400,000 tons of grain, 100,000 tons of meat, 500,000 tons of vegetable and 200,000 tons of fruits. These are huge numbers, which means any problem might lead to severe consequences. Therefore, the Chinese government is facing enormous pressure on food safety supervision.
The Chinese government incorporated food safety strategy in its 13th Five Year Plan, set up the State Food Safety Commission and China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, and enhanced the function of China Food and Drug Administration. In 2016, China amended the Food Safety Law and is now adopting the toughest supervision, punishment and accountability mechanism.
Denmark has comprehensive laws and regulations and advanced management expertise on food safety. China and Denmark have already carried out exchanges and collaboration in this area. China will remain open and continue to pursue mutual learning and exchanges with countries, on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect, so as to jointly promote the sound development of global food sector. I am confident that，Chinese food will be better and safer in the future.
Once again I wish this summit a full success. Thank you.