The joint initiative was signed during a Sino-American botany conference last month in Taian, in China’s eastern Shandong province, which brought together hundreds of experts from institutions in both countries.

The conference, held from September 19 to 23, aimed to “further deepen botanical exchange and cooperation between China and the United States and to establish an international platform that fosters interdisciplinary integration in plant science”, according to the Botanical Society of China.

Topics such as conservation, plant biotechnology, climate change and an international plant megaproject were discussed, the China Science Daily reported.