On April 23rd, Hon. Nthomeng Majara, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kingdom of Lesotho, paid a visit to HZAU where her delegation was warmly received by President Li Zhaohu. Among the attendees were Zhou Yong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hubei Provincial People’s Government, Zhang Xiaomei, Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hubei Provincial People’s Government (Hubei FAO), and Wang Yun, Director of the Health Care Committee Office of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee.

The symposium (Photo/ Miao Jian)

President Li presents gifts to Deputy Prime Minister Majara (Photo/ Xu Hang)

Madame Zhang delivers a speech (Photo/ Xu Hang)

During the symposium, Madame Zhang delivered a speech on behalf Hubei FAO. She noted that it was a great pleasure for her to join other attendees in extending a warm welcome to the delegation from Lesotho at her alma mater, HZAU. She emphasized the significant role of Hubei in Sino-Lesotho cooperation. As agricultural collaboration is integral to the China-Africa community of a shared future, she hoped that this visit would serve as a promoter for further collaboration between Hubei and Lesotho in areas such as higher education, agricultural technology, and talent training, bolstering Sino-Lesotho cooperation.

President Li outlines the development of HZAU (Photo/ Xu Hang)

President Li provided an overview of HAZU’s splendid history, excellent talent training, strong faculty, advanced scientific research, international cooperation and exchanges, and profound culture. Besides, he pointed out that extensive cooperations with African countries have been established in diversified areas including training of overseas students and personnel exchanges. Besides, both parties have jointly built platforms to further scientific and technological cooperation. “As we stand at the historic starting point of building a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, we stand ready to foster bilateral collaboration in international student enrollment, high-quality maize cultivation, animal husbandry and other domains. We will share the opportunities, technologies and fruits of agricultural development and transform the scientific edges of HZAU into productive forces, thereby fostering China- Lesotho friendship and cooperation in agriculture,” said President Li.

Hon. Majara gives a speech (Photo/ Xu Hang)

Majara extended gratitude for the warm reception by the Hubei Provincial People’s Government and HZAU. She was proud that two Lesotho students had pursued master’s degrees at the University and hoped that more Lesotho youth could gain access to university scholarships from the Chinese government to learn agriculture in China and boost Lesotho’s agricultural development by bringing back cutting-edge technologies. She also expected that Lesotho would witness the arrival of more scientists from HZAU to provide field guidance in agricultural mechanization, helping it secure high quality and high yield of crops such as maize and potatoes.

Hon. Majara, accompanied by President Li, visits the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement (Photo/ Miao Jian)

Professor Li Lin introduces the achievements in the breeding of high-quality maize varieties to Hon. Majara (Photo/ Xu Hang)

Hon. Majara speaks to Lesotho students in Wuhan (Photo/Xu Hang)

Hon. Majara and her delegation visited the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement of HZAU and engaged in discussions with Lesotho students in Wuhan.

Both parties take a photo in front of the National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crops (Photo/ Miao Jian)

The event also witnessed the participation of directors from the Office of the President, the Graduate School, the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, the National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crops, and the College of Biomedicine and Health of HZAU.

Situated in southeast Africa, the Kingdom of Lesotho is a landlocked country covering 30,344 square kilometers of territory. The Drakensberg rang forms its eastern boundary. Major crops include maize, wheat, sorghum, wheat, and legumes.  Rearing of cattle, sheep, and goats is also common.  On January 12, 2024, President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations with  King Letsie III of Lesotho over the 30th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties.

Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2024/0425/69562.shtml

Translated by Yan Xin

Proofread by Zuo Yuexiang

Supervised by Guo Haiyan