Vice researcher Gao Maofang and Dr. Li Qiang from the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), visited Cairo, Egypt, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, from July 22 to Aug 2. The visit was to promote the construction of the Sino-Egyptian Agricultural Green Development Joint Laboratory and accomplish the research tasks of the national key R&D programs, "Evolutionary Laws and Key Regulation Technologies of Water and Soil Resource Carrying Capacity for Enhancing Food Production Capacity in Black Soil Areas" and "Intelligent Monitoring, Risk Identification, and Regulation Technologies for Non-point Source Pollution in Typical Watersheds" under the National Key R&D Program and the Young Scientist Program.

During the visit, the delegation was invited to visit various institutions, including the National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Sciences, Cairo University, the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, the Climate Change Information Center & Renewable Energy, and The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University. In-depth discussions were held on topics such as "Remote Sensing Inversion of Vegetation/Soil Moisture Content," "Remote Sensing Monitoring of Crop Diseases and Pests," "Remote Sensing Inversion of Vegetation Nitrogen," "Impact of Global Changes on Agriculture," "Prospects for Agricultural Development in Desert Oases," and "Application of Crop Models in Oasis Agriculture." The aim was to promote international cooperation and exchanges in agricultural remote sensing and to extensively discuss the challenges and possible solutions to agricultural development from regional to global scales under the background of global changes.

This exchange visit is of great significance for facilitating agricultural scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation among countries along the Belt and Road, and learning from their theoretical and practical experiences in the fields of sustainable agricultural development. It also aimed to promote the dissemination of mature theories and technologies for agricultural green development in China.