OREANDA-NEWS. June 4, 2012. The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) signed "Ministry of Agriculture – Agricultural Bank of China Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to Support the Development of the Livestock Industry". Mr. Han Changfu, Minster of MoA, and Mr. Jiang Chaoliang, Chairman of ABC, were present at the signing ceremony. Mr. Gao Hongbin, Vice Minister of MoA, and Mr. Zhang Yun, President of ABC, signed the agreement on behalf of the two sides. Mr. Chen Mengshan, Chief Economist of MoA, Mr. Guo Haoda, Vice President of ABC, as well as other officials from the two sides attended the signing ceremony.

According to the agreement, MoA and ABC will conduct comprehensive cooperation to support the development of the livestock industry during the Twelfth Five-year Plan period. The Ministry of Agriculture has chosen ABC as the main bank partner, and encourages agricultural and livestock departments and key enterprises of livestock industrialization around China to strengthen cooperation with ABC. ABC plans to grant at least RMB50 billion of intentional credit limit. The two sides are to cooperate closely in the development of modern livestock industry, promotion of standardized and large-scale farming, and support to key pastoral regions including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang as well as to key enterprises of livestock industrialization, with aim to accelerate the transition toward resources-intensive, technology-intensive, and environmentally friendly livestock industry and promote the rapid development of the livestock industry in China.

The livestock industry is the mainstay of agriculture and rural economy. In recent years, the livestock industry has been developing fast with great improvement in overall production capacity, contributing tremendously to ensuring the effective supply of "Shopping Basket Program" products to urban and rural residents and sustained improvement in rural income. Over the years, ABC has always adhered to the market positioning of Sannong, and strengthened efforts in product development and service innovation, making active contributions to boosting rural financial businesses and promoting urban-rural integrated development. By the end of 2011, ABC had granted more than RMB70 billion of credit limit to the livestock industry with close to RMB50 billion in loan balances, greatly supporting the development of the livestock industry in China.

In the future, MoA and ABC will strengthen cooperation based on the agreement to fully exert ABC's advantages in comprehensive financial services including credit, settlement, bond underwriting, IPO consulting, corporate pension custody, asset securitization and financial leasing, increasing the financial service capacity to and accelerating the transition and upgrading of the livestock industry.