On March 23, Minister Xu Xueyuan attended "U.S.-CHINA Agriculture Roundtable" opening ceremony and delivered remarks. The event was co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and United States Heartland China Association (USHCA). A total of 150 participants joined the event, including President of CPAFFC Lin Songtian, Deputy Governor of Hebei Province Xia Yanjun, Deputy Governor of Hubei Province Ke Jun, Consul General of China in Chicago Zhao Jian, Chairman and CEO of USHCA Bob Holden, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Congressman Darin LaHood, USDA Acting Deputy Under Secretary Jason Hafemeister, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, President Emeritus of The World Food Prize Foundation Kenneth M. Quinn, Former Executive Director for Iowa Sister States Sarah Lande, and representatives from well-known enterprises of both countries,.

In her remarks, Minister Xu made briefings on President Xi Jinping's telephone call with President Joe Biden on February 11 as well as China-U.S. high-level strategic dialogue held last week. She stressed that China and the United States both gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. Respectively, as the world's largest importer and exporter of agricultural products, our two countries are natural partners with strong agricultural complementarity. The joint efforts of both sides to strengthen agricultural cooperation will surely create a greater sense of fulfillment and happiness for the two peoples and provide more impetus for the growth of China-US relations.

Participants from the two countries expressed their strong desire to strengthen dialogue and exchanges between the governments of China and the United States as well as promote subnational cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. They all agreed that agriculture should and can be an important area for both sides to complement each other with advantages and cooperate for mutual benefit.

Following the opening ceremony, three sessions of dialogue featuring trade, agricultural education and think tank exchanges will be held for the "U.S.-CHINA Agriculture Roundtable".