The Ninth China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Animal and Plant Quarantine and Food Safety Cooperation was held in Chongqing.

On November 13th, the 9th China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Animal and Plant Quarantine and Food Safety Cooperation was held in Chongqing. Sun Meijun, the Director General of the General Administration of Customs of China, attended the meeting and co-chaired it with the ASEAN co-chair. Zhao Zenglian, the Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Customs, also participated in the meeting. The meeting pointed out that China-ASEAN SPS cooperation is an important platform for promoting agricultural and food product trade between the two parties, serving as a "link" between markets and a "bridge" for improving people's well-being. In recent years, bilateral agricultural and food trade has made new breakthroughs, with progress in key areas of cooperation. The "hard connection," "soft connection," and "heart connection" are being promoted in synergy, and the upgraded version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 provides new opportunities for future cooperation between the two parties. The Chinese customs authority proposed four suggestions at the meeting: strengthen the quarantine and safety barriers for agricultural and food products through smarter supervision; enhance the regional capacity to supply rules in the field of animal and plant quarantine and food safety with more innovative ideas; facilitate safe and convenient regional agricultural and food trade through more open measures; and uphold the multilateral trading system with a firm resolve. The Chinese customs authority expressed its willingness to work together with the SPS competent authorities of ASEAN member countries to better implement global development initiatives and global governance initiatives, continuously improve regional and global SPS cooperation levels, fully support the high-quality development of cross-border agricultural and food product trade, make greater contributions to achieving higher levels of mutually beneficial cooperation, and build a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future. The meeting focused on maintaining the multilateral trading system and jointly promoting safe and convenient trade, summarizing the progress of cooperation between China and ASEAN in the SPS field, sharing innovative achievements in their customs inspection and quarantine systems, strengthening coordination on multilateral trade rules and agendas under the framework of the World Trade Organization, unanimously adopting the "China-ASEAN Animal and Plant Quarantine and Food Safety Cooperation Action Plan 2026-2027," and releasing the "Joint News Statement of the 9th China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Animal and Plant Quarantine and Food Safety Cooperation."