During October 27^th to November ^st, CNRRI delegation, headed by Director General Cheng Shihua, attended the 4th International Rice Congress (IRC2014) in Bangkok, Thailand. The congress is organized by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Royal Government of Thailand, Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives and Kenes MP Asia Pte. Ltd. The theme for this year is “Rice for the World”. More than 1500 rice scientists and rice industry players from 69 countries participated in IRC2014.

During the congress, Cheng discussed with the evaluation group of the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) about strengthening cooperation between GRiSP and China, as well as conducted a series of negotiations and consultations with a number of multinational seed companies and rice research institutes for future technology collaboration.

On October 30^th, Cheng representing China attended the 18^th Annual Meeting of the Council for Partnership on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA), where representatives from different countries exchanged ideas on hotspot issues such as boosting global rice production and trade. Invited by the Bureau of Rice Research and Development, Rice Department of Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives, CNRRI delegation paid a visit to Thailand Pathumthani Rice Research Center on October 31^st. A consensus of mutual visit in 2015 has been reached between the two sides, which laid a solid foundation for comprehensive rice technology cooperation in the future.