Ministerial tribute for CEPAMS on Field trip to China

Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister Mark Field MP this week acknowledged the wonderful example of a global partnership between the John Innes Centre and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The UK minister of state for Asia and the Pacific made the comments during a visit to the Beijing-based Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Sciences (CEPAMS).

CEPAMS is a joint initiative between the John Innes Centre and the CAS to address global challenges in agriculture and health.

The minister visited the centre on a five day trip which celebrated the Golden Era of China-UK relations.

During his visit the Minister commented that CEPAMS is a wonderful example of UK-China collaboration. It’s endeavours to improve food security and global health, is making life better for countless millions in the UK, in China and globally.

The Minister was welcomed by CAS Vice-President, Yaping Zhang to the CEPAMS campus where he met group leaders.

He visited the laboratory of Cao Xu and learned about work to re-domesticate wild plants. The lab uses  tomato as a model in order to rapidly move from ancient species to high-yielding, disease-resistant and climate-smart food crops.

“I truly hope that the Minister’s visit will improve the mutual understanding and promote cooperation between Chinese and British scientific communities,” said CAS Vice President Zhang.

The Minister’s visit saw the launch of a new publication, highlighting the successes of CEPAMS and also a series of six short videos in which CEPAMS’ leading scientists briefly explain their work.

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