On October 22, 2010, the signing ceremony was solemnly held in Nanjing for forest science and technology cooperative agreement between CAF and Nanjing Municipal Government. Present at the event were CHEN Weijian, Vice Mayor of Nanjing City, XIA Chunsheng, Director General of Dept. of Forestry, Jiangsu Province, ZHAI Weimin, Chairman of Agriculture Commission of Nanjing City, ZHANG Shougong, President of CAF, and CHU Fuxiang, Vice President of CAF. Vice Mayor CHEN Weijian and President ZHANG Shougong made a speech respectively and signed, on behalf of the parties, the cooperative agreement. Chairman ZHAI Weimin and Vice President CHU Fuxiang signed a protocol on drawing up the overall planning for the establishment of forest city of Nanjing City.

Director General XIA Chunsheng expressed at the ceremony that Going by the agreement, the two sides would set up a long term and stable relation for science and technology cooperation, and conduct comprehensive cooperation in forming of the overall planning of forest city of Nanjing City, strategic study on sustainable development of modern forestry in Nanjing, technical training on forestry, personnel training for forest research, new forest product development, introduction of new plant species, extension of forest research achievements and technical consultation. It is earnestly expected from the both sides that a full use of the resources and advantages possessed by each side and the setup of the friendly cooperative platform would speed up the forest development in Nanjing and stimulate the Chinese Academy of Forestry to produce more and better fruits.

As one of the four ancient capital cities in China, Nanjing is a famous ancient and cultural city. In the past, the city won a UN-Habitat Special Honor Award, the titles of National Garden City, Excellent Tourism City and others. It is abundant in plant resource and wildlife. Now Nanjing City is striving to become a National Forest City, for which a leading group is formed with Mayor JI Jianye as the group leader.