Propositions regarding the strengthening of China s external cooperation and opening up of agriculture


Propositions regarding the strengthening of China's external cooperation and opening up of agriculture

Following entry into the WTO, work on the external cooperation of agriculture should shift from previous efforts to serve the needs of improving agricultural production capabilities to enhancing China's overall agricultural competitiveness , while the past emphasis on 'bringing in' should be shifted to giving equal importance to 'bringing in' and 'going out'. External cooperation in agriculture should concentrate on the core matters of agricultural and rural development. The introduction of foreign advanced agricultural technologies, new breeds of livestock and crop varieties, management expertise, talents and capital should be boosted and the 'going out' of agricultural industry and products be promoted. On the international front, China should participate actively in multilateral and bilateral consultations and other activities in the area of international food and agriculture. All efforts should be made to help gain a favourable international environment for China's agricultural development.

Transformed perceptions and enlarged external cooperation functions are needed to help create a favourable international economic environment for China's agricultural development

China's WTO membership and its progressive opening up of agricultural product markets require the strengthening and improvement of the three key functions of agricultural administration:

  • providing effective protection, support and services for agriculture, rural areas and farmers' interests;

  • maintaining and regulating the order of agricultural production and markets;

  • striving to construct an international environment that is favourable for the development of agriculture in China.

These key functions are common to agricultural administration agencies in most countries worldwide and even more so in countries that have a higher degree of internationalization in their agricultural sector, such as the United States, France and the Netherlands. In the face of the various challenges and opportunities arising from the entry into the WTO, external cooperation needs to be re-conceptualized and given prominence with a view to participating in the improved circulation of the world economy. In order to create a favourable international environment for China's agricultural development, changes and improvements in the mechanism of bilateral cooperation should be made through the existing bilateral working groups, joint committees and mixed committees. While giving full play to the bridging role of working groups and joint committees , the content of cooperation should be adjusted so that emphasis is placed on combining the economic, scientific and trade elements in cooperation programmes in order to pave the way for all-round cooperation in agriculture. In addition, China should participate actively in the negotiations of multilateral international food and agricultural agencies, including the formulation of international standards for agricultural products initiated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization, the Code of Conduct on Prior Informed Consent for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and the revision of International Plant Protection Convention. Effort should be made to join, as soon as possible, the International Animal Health Organization (Office International des Epizooties or OIE) and participate in its activities. In order to gain and build a favourable international environment for the development of China's agricultural economy, China should be well prepared for participation in the new round of agricultural negotiations and work on policy reviews and possible trade dispute resolutions .

Efforts should be made to expand the scale of foreign investment in agriculture while the level and quality of investment utilization should continue to be improved

The task of utilizing foreign investment in agriculture is of outstanding importance in that foreign investment supplements the insufficient supply of domestic capital, facilitates the introduction of foreign advanced technologies, varieties and management expertise, helps the formation of modern agricultural enterprises and quickens the process of agricultural industrialization and trade development. However, the amount of foreign investment in agriculture only accounts for 1.7 per cent of total foreign investment in China, which is proof that a greater effort needs to be made to attract more foreign investment into agriculture through diversified channels and under different arrangements. Both soft and hard environments for foreign investment in agriculture should be improved. Proactive measures should be taken to encourage the use of domestic capital in relation to foreign investment. The developed areas should continue to step up their efforts to introduce foreign investment in the agricultural sector, employing various foreign investment vehicles such as equity joint ventures, contractual joint ventures and wholly foreign- owned enterprises. In the process of introducing foreign investment, a conscious effort should be made to foster large-scale ' leaders ' enterprises and to align them with the farmers in the form of 'communities of common interests'. The poorer areas, especially those in the vast mid-western region, should, in addition to utilizing low-interest loans or grant aids for poverty reduction development, take advantage of their resources and the government preferential policies to improve the soft environment for agricultural investment and expand the size of foreign investment in agriculture. All in all, various localities should expand further the channels of foreign investment utilization to promote foreign direct investment. Focal attention should be given to the technological contents of foreign-invested projects while a strong endeavour should be made to introduce foreign equipment, talents, advanced technologies, quality varieties and modern management expertise. The size of foreign-invested projects should be increased as a part of the effort to foster 'leaders' enterprises in order to better promote the industrialised agricultural operations and the export of agricultural products.

Implementation of the 'going out' should be accelerated

'Going out' as a strategy is a natural choice for China's economic development as well as an integral part of the opening-up policy. 'Going out' and 'bringing in' are the two complementary parts of China's opening-up policy. To increase the power and momentum of China's economic growth, China will have to:

  • utilize the 'two markets', both domestic and overseas markets, and the 'two kinds of resources', both local and foreign, in its effort to optimize resource allocation;

  • actively participate in international competition and cooperation;

  • bring into play China's comparative advantages in its effort to achieve mutual convergence and complementarity between the Chinese and the world economies.

In over 20 years of reform and opening up, 'bringing in' has been the mainstay. The practice of such a strategy has proved that 'bringing in' foreign capital, technologies, management expertise and talents is not only wholly necessary, but also highly effective. Without the process of 'bringing in', it would be hard for China to achieve its level of products, technology and management, and 'going out' would have been impossible . Therefore, active implementation of a 'going out' strategy for agriculture and agricultural products will have to be accompanied at the same time by a continued effort to boost the introduction of foreign advanced agricultural technologies, new varieties of crops and livestock, management expertise, talents and capital. In view of the fact that China's agriculture is characterized by small volume exports, a diverse range of export varieties and an overwhelming number of small- to medium- sized operators, green foods should be regarded as a point of breakthrough . In this connection, China should publicize green foods in the international market and promote international cooperation in the area of quality accreditation. China should also take advantage of the applicability of Chinese agricultural technologies in developing countries to pioneer the 'going out' of agricultural technologies. China should purposefully provide facilitation to those areas and enterprises that have necessary conditions to develop trade and economic cooperation. In the external cooperation of agriculture, the export of advantageous products such as horticultural products, fruits and vegetables should be promoted.

Research on foreign agriculture should be strengthened and a foreign agricultural information system should be established to provide public services regarding external cooperation in agriculture

Presently the lack of knowledge about supply and demand situations in foreign agricultural markets, unfamiliarity with trade policies, quality standards for agricultural products and investment environments in foreign countries and lack of clarity about the information needed for the resolution of possible trade disputes are the common problems that hamper different localities in their efforts to develop foreign economic and trade cooperation. Following China's entry into the WTO, it is of paramount importance for China to legislate , improve and adjust agricultural laws, regulations and policy measures with reference to the experiences of other countries. In this context China should intensify its effort to research the WTO rules, foreign agriculture and the countermeasures in relation to China's entry into the WTO. The tracking, collection and transmission of information on the dynamics of agricultural science, technology, economy and trade should be strengthened in order to achieve the objective of information resource sharing. A national-level window of information on economic and trade cooperation in agriculture should be established as soon as possible. Such a window should be able to provide information on both domestic and foreign policies, authoritative forecasts for market development and other important international information. Research into foreign agriculture should be carried out according to priorities, taking into consideration the reform of China's agricultural operating and management regime and the need to improve the overall competitiveness of China's agriculture. Using the existing platform, the sources of international agricultural information should be integrated with relevant domestic capabilities in order to speed up the construction of a foreign agricultural information system. Work on the analysis of foreign agricultural information should be strengthened and the current channels of bilateral agricultural cooperation should be utilized to improve bilateral information sharing and install a rapid feedback mechanism in order to provide effective public services for external cooperation in agriculture.




Doing Business with China
Doing Business with China
ISBN: 1905050089
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 648
Authors: Lord Brittan

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