CGIAR GCP Director Visits ICS

On February 15, 2014, Dr. Jean-Marcel Ribaut, Director of the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) paid a visit to the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ICS). Dr. Wan Jianmin, Director General of and Dr. Wang Shumin, Deputy Director General attended the visit.

GCP is a time-bound 10-year project created by CGIAR in 2004. GCP's mission is to apply the molecular biology technology to the study on a global scale of the methods and means for using crop genetic resources. In September 2009, GCP launched the five-year research project on Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) with the support of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and ICS Research Fellow Jing Ruilian and Wang Jiankang undertook GCP research projects.

Dr. Wan Jianmin extended thanks to GCP for the support for ICS over the past 10 years and expressed the willingness of active involvement in the next-round IBP research to promote the IBP application in China. Mr. Wang Shumin exchanged views with Dr. Jean-Marcel Ribaut on the details of bilateral cooperation. Following an introduction to the development and outcome of the IBP project, Dr. Jean-Marcel Ribaut spoke highly of the cooperation with ICS, and expressed the hope to strengthen cooperation in next five years to establish regional promotion centers in China.

After the meeting, Dr. Jean-Marcel Ribaut delivered a presentation on "Integrated Breeding Platform A Novel Portal for Breeding" in the lecture hall on the second floor. More than 50 researchers and graduate students attended the event and conducted extensive exchanges with Dr. Jean-Marcel Ribaut.