On May 9, 2019, Dr. Eva Reinhard, CEO of Swiss Agroscope and the delegation visited IPP-CAAS. CHEN Julian, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Graduate Studies, LIU Wanxue, Director of the Department of Biological Invasions, XU Xuenong, Director of the Department of Biological Control, LI Yunhe, Deputy Director of the Department of Biotechnology in Plant Protection met the guests.

Director CHEN Julian warmly welcomed CEO Eva Reinhard and the delegation. She briefly introduced the information of IPP in terms of research achievements, talent cultivation, and international cooperation and exchanges. Dr. Reinhard fully agreed with the research fields and directions set up by IPP, and the research work carried out surrounding the key issues in China agricultural production. Meanwhile, Dr. Reinhard presented the overall picture of Swiss Agriculture and Agroscope-the Swiss center of excellence for agricultural research. She pointed out that there are problems and challenges facing the agricultural production in Switzerland, and the goals set by Agrocope are meant to solve these problems. Therefore, Agrocope and IPP-CAAS coincide with each other in many research areas. Dr. Robert Baur, Head of the Department of Agroecology and Environment, specifically introduced the research groups and their focuses in this department. Dr. YANG Nianwan, an associate professor from the Department of Biological Invasions of IPP-CAAS, introduced the background and research work in this department. The two sides had further discussion on common interests, and signed the MoU between Agroscope-AOU and IPP. Both agreed that signing the MoU was just a beginning, and hoped to develop more extensive and deep collaborations.

Dr. Felix Herzog, Deputy Director of the Department of Agroecology and Environment, Dr. Joerg Romeis, Head of the Biosafety Research Group, and Ursula Aubert, Research Associate, at the Plant Breeding research unit accompanied the visit. Drs. WAN Fanghao and ZHANG Guifen from the Department of Biological Invasions, and Dr. TIAN Fang from the Department of International Cooperation and Graduate Studies were present at the meeting.