On April 23, 2024, HAAFS and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) jointly held an webinar on sweet potato research and development. President ZHANG Tielong and other members of the bilateral Cooperation Steering Committee, Kamarul Anuar Ismail, Director of Corporate Communication Center of MARDI, Rosalizan Md Saleh, Director of Industrial Crop Research Center of MARDI, and ZHANG Meishen, Director of International Cooperation Division of HAAFS, attended and delivered speeches. All the management team members of the Institute of Cereal and Oil Crops and researchers from both sides in sweet potato and related research fields, a total of about 40 people attended the webinar online and offline.

In the opening remarks, President ZHANG Tielong made a brief introduction to the overall situation of HAAFS and sweet potato research, reviewed the history of carrying out cooperative research between HAAFS and MARDI since 2017, and expressed the hope that on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia, the two sides could establish a deeper cooperative partnership through this webinar.

Kamarul Anuar Ismail, Director of Corporate Communication Center of MARDI, said that he was very honored to jointly organize this webinar and stressed that the signing of the new round of MoU is of positive significance to the cooperation between the two sides, hoping that both sides can benefit from it and achieve win-win results.

At the webinar, 7 sweet potato experts from both sides made excellent academic reports on three topics, namely, overview of sweet potato industry in China and Malaysia, upstream and downstream R&D programme/activities of sweet potato, and sweet potato research strategies and way forward for the future. Participants shared the latest research achievements and experience, discussed and exchanged research progress and practices on the prevention and control of sweet potato virus disease, cultivation technology, storage and preservation technology and quality evaluation indicators.

The webinar fully demonstrated the scientific research capacity and innovative achievements of the two sides, enhanced the exchanges between researchers in the field of sweet potato, broadened their research ideas, and laid the foundation for identifying the combination point and seeking deeper cooperation.

（Source from www.rmlmgmt.com）