The 8th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Ministerial Meeting was held in Seattle, USA on Aug. 3 local time. Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, led a delegation to the meeting. 

Vice Minister Ma said that APEC is an important economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, and consensus and understanding among its members in the areas of food security and agricultural and rural development are crucial to realizing a more sustainable and reliable agri-food system in the region and globally. He noted that China is willing to work with all parties to achieve various goals: 1) increase food production capacity, improve the level of green agricultural development, address challenges such as climate change, and continuously promote the sustainable transformation of the food system; 2) maintain the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, improve the level of trade liberalization and facilitation, and better maintain the stability of the supply chain of agricultural products;  3) strengthen high-quality and practical cooperation in agriculture under the Global Development Initiative, and accelerate the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 

The meeting was chaired by the host, U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack. It adopted Principles for Building a Sustainable Agri-Food System to Safeguard Food Security in the APEC Region and issued a statement by the chairman of the meeting. 

During the meeting, Vice Minister Ma had a brief conversation with Secretary Vilsack and U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture Alexis Taylor.