Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited an information technology (IT) innovation park in Beijing on Monday morning.
At the park, Xi learned about IT application and innovation, and was briefed on Beijing's efforts to expedite the development of an international sci-tech innovation center.
Xi checked the display of sci-tech innovation outcomes, and talked with researchers and heads of sci-tech enterprises.
Located by the Tongming Lake in southeast Beijing's Yizhuang area, the park was established in 2019 by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Beijing Municipal Government to coordinate resources and accelerate the shift of sci-tech breakthroughs from laboratory to industry.
The park, with an area of 1.7 million square meters, is home to over 90 percent of China's leading IT firms, hosting about 1,000 companies.
Xi visits IT innovation park in Beijing
Global food commodity prices climbed for a second consecutive month in March, driven mainly by higher energy costs linked to escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in report released on Friday.
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 128.5 points in March, up 2.4 percent from February and 1.0 percent above its level a year ago.
According to the report, the FAO Vegetable Oil Index and Sugar Price Index showed the largest increases, up 5.1 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.
The FAO Cereal Price Index increased by 1.5 percent from the previous month, driven primarily by higher world wheat prices, which rose 4.3 percent.
The FAO Meat Price Index rose by 1.0 percent from the previous month, and the FAO All-Rice Price Index declined by 3.0 percent in March, according to the report.
FAO stated that rising energy and fertilizer prices have been driving up agricultural input costs.
If the conflict stretches beyond 40 days, farmers will have to choose to farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops, according to FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero.
These choices will hit future yields and shape food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and beyond, Torero said.
Global food prices rise for 2nd consecutive month in March amid Middle East conflict: FAO
