From November 1^st to 2^nd, 2018, the Symposium on the Integrated Rural-Urban Development Strategy, Connecting Approaches and Policy Choices in the APEC Economies, was successfully held in Beijing. It was financially supported by China’s Ministry of Finance, approved by the APEC Secretariat and sponsored by the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). This symposium was chaired by Researcher Li Xiande; Dr. Hao Weiping, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of CAAS, and Yuan Longjiang, Director General of the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of CAAS attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. More than 140 representatives from more than 10 APEC economies and international research institutions attended the symposium and discussed over six sub-topics of the theme, which includes economies like China, Russia, South Korea, the Philippines, Chile, France, the Netherlands, and international organizations like the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations University, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

On behalf of CAAS, Dr. Hao Weiping delivered a welcome speech to the conventioneers in the opening session, and briefed them on the significance of realizing social inclusiveness and implementing the rural revitalization strategy under "Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities ", one of the 2018 APEC themes, as well as the contribution of CAAS in APEC agricultural science and technology cooperation. Yuan Longjiang pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region, on the one hand, has the greatest potentials for development and is one of the most active cooperation areas among the world; on the other side, it is confronted with many challenges, such as unbalanced food security and nutrition, imbalance development between urban and rural areas, and unreasonable resource allocation. The symposium can offer wisdom and advice for the urban-rural development as a whole, and provide scientific support and experience sharing for solving the agricultural and rural issues in the context of urban-rural development.

At the symposium, APEC representatives from Russia, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Chile shared their own experiences of social, economic, resource and environmental problems, countermeasures, and policy directions in the process of domestic urban-rural development. Experts from FAO, United Nations University, IFPRI, and University of Technology Delft shared their research on policy pathways to fight hunger, the potentials of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in enhancing the rural-urban integrated development in Japan, the mechanism and future strategic priorities of China's poverty alleviation, and the role of informality in rural land policy and integrated development. Representatives from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Institute of Rural Development of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), National Development and Reform Commission, Fudan University, Peking University, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Shandong Agricultural University, made a series of reports and discussions under the sub-topics of integrated rural-urban development, including agricultural transformation and food security and nutrition, factors flow and optimal configuration, industrial convergence, eco-environmental and social cultural changes, and development demand and policy design.

This symposium has promoted the communication between China and the other APEC economies in terms of strategy formulation, connecting approaches and policy choices in the integrated rural-urban development, and established a link for mutual cooperation and communication in the future, which has important reference value for improving policy toolkit related to integrated rural-urban development.