Meanwhile, a number of scientific and technical personnel from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and other countries will carry out training regarding the demonstration and promotion of new varieties and new technologies of upland rice in the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

This is another pragmatic measure for the agricultural science & technology cooperation among countries in the Mekong River basin.

The cross-border agricultural cooperation between countries in the Lancang-Mekong River basins is time-honored. Agricultural science & technology experts hold that Yunnan is advanced in agricultural production technologies, especially the R&D of main improved crop varieties like rice and corn, as well as high-yield & high-efficiency saving cultivation technology, rural energy technology and construction technology of water conservancy works, so the countries from both river basins are highly complementary. Since the 1990s, various cooperation mechanisms have been established. Since 2008, a number of cross-border cooperation platforms including the “Agricultural Science & Technology Exchange and Cooperation Team in the Greater Mekong Sub-region” led by the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences have been established. Centered on these platforms, a number of exchange and cooperation projects have been carried out.

Statistics show that in recent years, the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences has achieved the exchange of over 260 varieties among six countries and trained nearly ten thousand person-times of scientific & technical personnel and peasants via the platform – “Agricultural Science & Technology Exchange and Cooperation Team in the Greater Mekong Sub-region”. Such high-quality rice varieties as “Yunguang 14” and “Yunguang 17” of Yunnan have realized the extension area of over 1 million hectares in Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Pakistan and other countries. The advancement and adaptability of the agricultural science & technology of Yunnan has a huge influence on the countries in the Mekong basin.

Analysts said that the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism has infused a new impetus for the agricultural cooperation in the sub-region. Xiao Yi, Director of the Foreign Exchange & Cooperation Division, the Department of Agriculture of Yunnan Province, said that Yunnan is trying to propel the mutual benefits, win-win results and sustainable cooperation & development of regional agriculture, rural economy and society in all the countries and regions through “agricultural priority” to benefit the masses in partner countries.