YINCHUAN, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Top international representatives at the 47th World Congress of Vine and Wine in China's Ningxia, the country's top wine-producing area, advocated for deeper global collaboration to reshape the vine and wine sector.
This is the first time the congress, opened Monday in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has been hosted in Asia since its launch in 1924. Ningxia, home to 261 wine enterprises, including 130 wineries, produces 140 million bottles of wine annually.
The event, held alongside the 24th General Assembly of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), has drawn more than 800 participants, including delegates from 51 OIV member states, foreign diplomats and representatives, leading experts and scholars, and heads of business associations and leading enterprises. China joined the OIV in 2025.
Yvette van der Merwe, OIV's president, hailed China's important role and its growing contribution to the international vine and wine industry, highlighting Ningxia's significant development as a wine-producing region.
The experience of Ningxia, such as viticulture in specific environments, investment in technology and knowledge, and a vision to create a well-known wine culture and tourism brand, offers important opportunities for international exchange and mutual learning, she said.
With the goal of building a new landscape for the wine industry, the president called for deepening cooperation with relevant authorities, institutions, experts and the wine industry in Ningxia and across China.
That cooperation will include Ningxia-based experts joining OIV's international network and expert groups, exchanges on grape growing, winemaking, climate adaptation and emerging technologies, plus ongoing alignment with international standards and best practices, she said.
The congress marks a new chapter in the cooperation between China and the global vine and wine industry, said John Barker, director-general of the OIV.
Across OIV member states, the industry is deeply affected by climate change, economic pressures, changing social behavior and consumption patterns, geopolitical and trade uncertainties, and the rapid development of digital technologies, he said.
Centering collaboration and science in OIV's mandate, Barker said a multilateral collaboration-based development path is needed more than ever to tackle challenges and explore opportunities.
At the event, an initiative unveiled by Ningxia's core wine zone, the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain, calls for deepening multilateral coordination, advancing eco-friendly cultivation, boosting innovation, refining standard governance, upholding safety thresholds and unleashing market momentum.
The eastern foot of Helan Mountain has become China's largest contiguous wine grape production area. This region has 607,000 mu, or about 40,467 hectares, dedicated to wine grape cultivation and development, accounting for nearly 42 percent of China's total planting area.
Carole LY, director of the French National Institute of Origin and Quality, noted that Sino-French institutional wine cooperation has spanned more than three decades. Under a long-standing partnership framework, the cooperation has been practical and dynamic, she said.
Describing wine as a messenger of peace, dialogue and culture, Andrian Digolean, state secretary of the ministry of agriculture and food industry of Moldova, said it can transcend boundaries and bring people and regions closer.
He noted that China has been integrating millennia-old tradition with cutting-edge technology and visionary innovation, showing the sector's boundless potential via close cooperation.
The congress, themed around building a new landscape for the global vine and wine industry, features an opening ceremony, a seminar on high-quality development of the Chinese vine and wine industry, a sci-tech sub-session, industry visits and a closing ceremony.
Over 400 academic papers from 35 countries will be on display at the sci-tech sub-session, introducing cutting-edge technologies that could help drive the transformation and upgrading of the vine and wine industry.
The 6th China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo opened alongside the congress, attracting 84 world-renowned wineries and enterprises from distinctive production areas in 16 countries. It has also drawn a total of 146 leading domestic wineries from Ningxia and other core production areas in China.
The local wine industry has also become a driver of tourism. Wineries in Ningxia receive more than 3.7 million tourist visits each year, generating combined benefits of over 50 billion yuan (around 7.4 billion U.S. dollars). ■
