Yili-Initiated SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley Founded In Seattle

SEATTLE, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 23^rd local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on his state visit to the U.S., attended the US-China CEO Roundtable in Seattle. At the meeting, President Xi delivered a key policy speech focused on SINO-US economic and trade cooperation. The speech quickly struck a chord in the business circles of the two countries. Pan Gang, board chairman of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd. and leader of the Chinese delegation of agricultural companies, attended the US-China CEO Roundtable, at which, during his speech, he expounded on the importance and vast potential of agricultural cooperation between China and the United States and presented the SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley project. Roundtable participants reached an agreement on the founding of SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley and Yili's position as leader of the project. Prior to the meeting, President Xi cordially shook hands with Mr. Pan and other entrepreneurs and spoke positively of Yili's achievements.

US-China CEO Roundtable was one of the most important economic and trade events held during President Xi's visit to the United States. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) president Jiang Zengwei and former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Paulson Foundation chairman Henry Paulson co-chaired the meeting. Nearly 30 executives representing industry leaders attended the meeting and delivered speeches, including China-based Yili, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba Group and Haier as well as U.S.-based Boeing, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Disney and DuPont, among others. Prior to the meeting, Mr. Pan had engaging chats with world renowned entrepreneurs, including Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi.

Mr. Pan said during his speech that the agricultural cooperation between China and the United States is not only important and complementary, but also carries with it vast potential. Agroindustry leaders from the two countries identified eight key areas for cooperation in the sphere of agriculture and listed the many advantages that a successful cooperation would yield and be complementary to both sides, as well as the framework of such a cooperation. The suggested framework fully embodied what the agroindustry leaders viewed as the key priorities. Agricultural firms in China are eager to cooperate with U.S.-based universities, firms and research organizations involved in agriculture and farming to better serve consumers back in China. As GDP per capita is starting to bypass the $10,000 mark in ever widening areas across China, diversified and customized healthy foods are set to become widely popular, providing much headroom for innovative cooperation between the two countries in both the agriculture and food sector, with Yili's Satine, Ambrosial, Pro-Kido, Chang Qing and Chocliz standing as good examples of what can be done. SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley was created in response to the needs of the times, and Yili has expressed wholehearted willingness to lead the implementation of the project.

Mr. Pan said that Yili has already gathered together and consolidated the strength of the top Ivy League schools, the world's top 10 universities in terms of comprehensive rankings and the leading university as well as research organization in terms of ranking in the fields of agriculture, management and life sciences, and launch a vertical cooperation across multiple disciplines, including nutrition and health, product development, food safety, agricultural technology, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, ecological environmental protection, enterprise management and personnel training, forming a high-end advanced knowledge-based agri-food cluster in China and the United States and extending to the entire world, encompassing the largest number of most authoritative institutions the most widely sought after and cutting-edge fields, the most original models, the most flexible mechanisms, the most far-reaching influence and providing the maximum benefit. The hope and plan is for this to be a new engine, injecting new momentum and setting up a new model for innovative cooperation between China and the United States, so as to better promote mutual development and deliver real and tangible benefits to the peoples of the two countries.

The SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley founding ceremony was held immediately following the conclusion of the US-China CEO Roundtable. Approximately 100 distinguished guests, including CCPIT president Jiang Zengwei, many of the world's top universities and scientific research organizations, among them, Yale University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Toronto, U.C. Davis, Wharton School, University of Minnesota and Yili together presented at the ceremony, with some of the projects holding signing ceremonies on the spot.

According to sources, SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley will serve to promote a wide range of bilateral collaborations in the fields of agriculture and food between China and the U.S., and is one of the important achievements in the area of trade and business cooperation during President Xi's visit to the United States. As the CCPIT president commented in his speech, Yili is China's dairy industry leader, highly representative of China-based brands as well as an important participant, beneficiary and leader of agricultural cooperation between China and the United States. The SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley project underscores Yili's global strategy and forward looking vision. We look forward to the success and long term growth of SINO-US Food Wisdom Valley and its role as the "the big barn" resulting from cooperation in agriculture undertaken by the world's two leading superpowers.

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SOURCE Yili Group