Delegates from 60 countries and regions to the three-day International Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology have reached agreement on several tentative co-operative programmes, Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua said at the closing of the meeting yesterday in Beijing.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and the US Department of Agriculture, for example, have agreed to hold an academic meeting each year to exchange information on emerging agricultural technology.

China will expand collaboration with Canada, the United States and the European Union to develop the milk and food processing industries, and to use information technology to monitor the agricultural production environment, according to Xu.

Xu lauded a proposal to upgrade world agricultural co-operation, calling on global agronomists to join hands to eradicate famine and poverty.

"Scientists should be responsible for ensuring global food security and the preservation of environmental and natural resources. They should also provide new technology to help support the 800 million people in the world who still suffer from famine," said Xu.

Xu encouraged global scientists to speed up co-operation in such fields as biological, information and new materials technologies.

He suggested that an International Society of Agronomists be set up and the International Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology be held every two or three years to enhance agricultural exchanges between developed and developing countries.