On June 5th,Ms.Gladys Martínez Verdecia, a member of the Central Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party and the First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of Artemisa,a province in Cuba,led a delegation of 16 people to visit the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, orCATAS.Mr.Huang Sanwen, the President of CATAS, andMr.Li Jihua, the Vice President,guidedthem invisitingtheExhibition Hall, Tropical Plant Germplasm Resources DisplayNursery, and Tropical Rare Plant Gardenof the Academy, as well as engaging in a discussion and exchanges.
President Huang extended a warm welcome to the delegation led byFirst SecretaryGladys Martínez Verdeciaandnarrated thedevelopment history, technological innovation, and international cooperation achievements of CATAS. He focused on introducing the tropical agriculturalcooperation between CATAS and Cuba, as well as the background and development goals of organizing and founding the International Cooperative Organization for Tropical Agriculture Research, orICOTAR. He expressed that Cuba is an active practitioner of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Global Development Initiative, and CATAS is willing to carry out more extensive and in-depth cooperation withCuba’sinstitutions such as the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the field of tropical agriculture, collaborating in the innovative utilization of germplasm resources and key production technologies for tropical crops such as cassava, sugarcane, bananas, coffee, and cocoa.
First SecretaryGladys Martínez Verdeciaexpressed her heartfelt gratitude to CATAS for the thoughtful arrangements and briefly introduced thestatus quoof agricultural development in Cuba. She mentioned that Cubaboasts fertile soil and a large planting area for crops like cassava and sugarcane. However, due to the lack of processing industries, the utilization rate of agricultural products is not high, and Cuba imports a large amount of food crops. Cuba urgently needs to address food and edible oil security issues. She expressed that the crop varieties in Hainan are very similar to those in Cuba, and most of the research objects at CATAS are Cuba's main crops. She hopes todeepen tropical agriculturalcooperationwith HainantobolsterCuba's agricultural industry and increase people's income.
CATAS's Tropical Crop GeneticResourcesInstitute,Spice andBeverageResearch Institute, CoconutResearch Institute,Institute of TropicalBioscienceand Biotechnology, and Haikou Experimental Station conducted on-site demonstrations on the varieties, cultivation management, and high value-added processing technologies of oilseeds, spices, andtropical fruits such as bananas, peppers, coconuts, sugarcane, flowers, and coffee.
Relevant officials from the International Department Central Committee of the CPCand the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hainan Provincial Committeeof the CPCaccompanied their field visits.
