News Releases

UWI renews MoU for agricultural technology cooperation with China

For Release Upon Receipt - December 12, 2012

St. Augustine


The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine renewed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for agricultural technology cooperation with The Crop Research Institute of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CRIGAAS) of China on Monday 3rd December, 2012. This MoU acknowledges the significance and desirability of international cooperation for the achievement of food and nutritional security, and the advancement of renewable and environmentally sustainable energy resources through development of germplasm resources, varieties, appropriate technologies for vegetables, biomass energy crops and other crops. 

This MoU also marked a milestone in The UWI’s commitment to investigating sustainable solutions to current food and agricultural challenges. After 25 years, the university has finally acquired lands at Orange Grove. “The research done on these lands will have a tremendous impact on our agricultural future and build The UWI’s capacity in an area that is extremely important,” said Campus Principal, Professor Sankat.

H.E. Yang Youming, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Trinidad and Tobago also promised his continued support in this venture which also promotes cultural exchange and amicable relations between Trinidad and Tobago and China. He said that the Chinese Government attaches great importance to the development of agriculture, including agricultural modernization, China now is able to support one-fifth of the world population with only 7% of the world's arable land. China is willing to work together with Trinidad and Tobago in promoting cooperation in the agricultural sector. In his words, “When China and Trinidad and Tobago come together, we can achieve through (our) cooperation.”

Also on the panel were Professor Dyer Narinesingh, Former Dean, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, The UWI; Zhijun Li, Professor of CRIGAAS China and Dr Carlisle Pemberton, Dean, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, The UWI.

 

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences. 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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