India hosted the 8th meeting of agriculture experts of BIMSTEC countries virtually on August 31. The meeting was chaired by Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education & Director General of ICAR. BIMSTEC comprise of seven Member States including five from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka), and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
During this meet, Chairman highlighted the UN Food System Summit 2021 and transformational aspects that are happening across agriculture and food systems globally. The BIMSTEC Member States also appreciated the greater engagement of India in offering six slots of scholarships for Master and PhD programmes in agriculture and other initiatives for capacity development & training.
Highlights of the meeting of agriculture experts:
• Experts of agricultural ministries from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand participated in the meeting.
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) director general Dr.Trilochan Mohapatra chaired the meeting and talked about the UN Food System Summit-2021 and transformations that are happening in agriculture and food systems globally.
• Mohapatra emphasised on addressing biosafety and biosecurity concerns and the need to promote ‘digital agriculture’ along with the trade of technologies for developing resilient agriculture, food systems, and value chains.
• The BIMSTEC member states appreciated the greater engagement of India offering six slots of scholarships each for Masters and PhD programmes in agriculture and its other initiatives for capacity development and training, including the development of seed sectors.
About the BIMSTEC
BIMSTEC was founded in 1997 with the objective of pursuing mutual trade, connectivity & cultural, technical & economic development in the region. It earlier included six sectors viz., technology, trade, energy, transport, fisheries, and tourism. Sectors were later expanded to 14 areas of cooperation. Agriculture is one among the 14 sectors.
