8th Meeting of Agricultural Experts of BIMSTEC Countries

31st August, 2021, New Delhi

Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) chaired the “Virtual 8th Meeting of Agriculture Experts of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Countries” hosted by India today. Dr. Thanda Kyi, Deputy Director General, Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Republic of the Union of Myanmar Co-Chaired the Meeting. The Agricultural Experts of BIMSTEC Countries have favoured deepening the cooperation in the agriculture sector for Food and Nutritional Security in the Region.

The UN Food System Summit - 2021 and the transformations happening in the agriculture and food systems globally were highlighted in Dr. Mohapatra’s address. He urged for enhancing the engagement and deepening the cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors amongst the BIMSTEC Member States by encouraging exchange of knowledge, germplasm, students and experts, etc., along with the trade of technologies for developing resilient agriculture, food systems and value-chains.

India’s offering of 6 slots of scholarships each for Masters and Ph. D. Programmes in Agriculture and its other initiatives for capacity development and training including development of seed sectors, etc., was appreciated by the BIMSTEC Member Countries. The cooperation in the areas of high impact trans-boundary diseases of livestock and poultry; and aquatic animal diseases and biosecurity in aquaculture and digitalization to promote precision farming was also discussed in the meeting.

The Experts of Agriculture Ministries from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand participated in the meeting.

The Senior Officials of DARE and ICAR Headquarters, ICAR-IARI and representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs joined the Virtual Meeting at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

The BIMSTEC provides a unique link between the South and South-East Asia with 5 countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka from South Asia and two countries - Myanmar and Thailand from the South-East Asia coming together on one platform for cooperation in 14 key economic and social sectors of the economy.

(Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi)