Shanghai, September 5, 2022 – Xiji County Mayor Ma Tianxia, accompanied by COMAC representatives, visited Sodexo, the global leader in services that improve the quality of life.

The visiting team affirmed the achievements of Sodexo in promoting local agricultural development in Xiji County and broadening employment channels for farmers in developing aeas. The team also expressed readiness to deepen paired assistance together with Sodexo to promote rural revitalization. Sodexo, as a world-class company in the group meal catering industry, will fully utilize its resources to achieve a win-win for both corporate development and local economic growth.

（From left to right: Xiji County Mayor Ma Tianxia, President of Sodexo Greater China Martin Boden, and Deputy Director of Department of Administration, COMAC, Li Zhichao）

Over the past decade, COMAC has assisted Xiji County in poverty alleviation through industrial development, consumption, education, culture, and medical care, boosting its economic and social development and improving people's livelihood. In June 2020, Sodexo and COMAC signed a Poverty Alleviation Cooperation Agreement in Xiji County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, to jointly support Xiji County's poverty alleviation. Under this framework agreement, Sodexo promoted local agricultural development and expanded employment channels for farmers in poverty-stricken areas by purchasing agricultural products, providing skill trainings and recruitment opportunities, and other means. On November 16, 2020, the government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region officially approved the withdrawal of Xiji County from the list of developing counties, successfully wrapped up poverty alleviation in the region.

Sodexo has had a business relationship with COMAC since 2009, providing professional on-site catering services and benefit package solutions for its employees, including lunch benefits. As a trusted partner of COMAC, Sodexo has promoted the agricultural development in Xiji through skill training and recruitment, and developed a "Double 10 Tons" project for beef and lamb procurement, which targets products from Xiji County and sells them to all Sodexo customers in Shanghai. Sodexo's online welfare platform is also used to launch and sell products, in order to broaden the sales channels of local agricultural and sideline products and contribute to rural revitalization.

Martin Boden, President of Sodexo Greater China says, "I'm glad to have participated in the paired assistance program with COMAC. In the past two years of assisting Xiji County, we actively responded to the initiative of poverty alleviation through consumption, and deepened bilateral cooperation while boosting the local economy. In Sodexo A Better Tomorrow 2025, we made six commitments to corporate responsibility, and incorporated it into the business development of Sodexo. Moving forward, we make further progress with bilateral cooperation, explore more fields of cooperation, practice corporate responsibilities together, and promote rural revitalization and community development."

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