Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (WBGCAS) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on scientific cooperation and higher education in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on August 23, 2011.

The MoU is the new phase of "The Research Contract Between JKUAT and WBGCAS" and will be valid through 2012 to 2016. Both sides will seek to boost and enhance higher education training through research, training, innovation, technological development and capacity building in the areas of mutual interest, according to the MoU.

WBGCAS and JKUAT will both provide an instrument for establishing various collaborative initiatives for the growth and mutual benefit of African and Chinese institutions. Collaborate training, joint research ventures, staff exchanges, curricular development and review, staff and students interactions and exchange of experiences and information will be carried out according to the agreement to enhance professional skills of staff in all the institutions. Both sides will encourage any other agreed activities of mutual benefits.

According to the Memorandum, both parties will jointly construct a botanical garden and an ecological observation station. The garden will cover an area of 161,874 square kilometers, including a research lab and an accommodation for visiting scholars and students from all over the world. The ecological observation station will be of 2,000 square meters, including a conservation biology lab, a molecular biology lab, a ecology lab, a herbarium and a meeting room.

Launched in 2009, "The Research Contract Between JKUAT and WBGCAS" seeks to strengthen scientific cooperation in biodiversity, conservation biology, and talent training on both sides.

 Vice-director LUO Zhiqiang on behalf of WBGCAS and Prof. Mabel Imbuga on behalf of JKUAT signed the MoU (Image by WBGCAS)