Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the Indian delegation during the bilateral meetings with Nepal and Bhutan. He was accompanied by the Ambassador of India to Nepal Shri Naveen Srivastava, Shri Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary, DA&FW, Dr D.K. Yadava, Dy Director General (Crop Science), ICAR and Dr A.K. Mishra, Principal Scientist, ICAR in the meetings.
The bilateral meeting between Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare and rural development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Shri Ramnath Adhikari, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal was held today in Kathmandu.
The Ministers reviewed bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and discussed ways to further enhance collaboration for mutual benefit of both nations. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of India and Nepal on cooperation in the field of Agriculture was signed.
This MoU supersedes the MoU signed between both the countries on 6 December 1991. The MoU will give a fresh impetus to the ongoing cooperation especially in areas such as improving crop productivity, post-harvest management, agricultural research & capacity building, market access, agricultural trade as also climate resilient & sustainable agriculture.
Both sides discussed convening Joint Agriculture Working Group (JAWG) Meetings under the new MoU, and cooperation between the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).
Both the Ministers reviewed the progress of India’s proposal for setting up of an Agro-Industrial Park in Chitwan. The Ministers also reviewed progress of the Agricultural projects under India’s High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) Programme in Nepal.
Both sides also discussed cooperation in livestock sector and institutional collaboration between the agricultural educational institutions of both countries. Union Minister Shri Chouhan called on Shri Indramani Pandey, the Secretary General, BIMSTEC and discussed possible areas of cooperation between India and the BIMSTEC platform in the field of agriculture.
The Minister noted that the BIMSTEC countries face shared challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and issues related to food security and nutrition, which call for regional cooperation and exchange of learnings from each other’s experiences.
He also noted that the BIMSTEC countries need to work together to successfully implement the BIMSTEC Plan of Action 2023-2027 that was collectively adopted in the 5th BIMSTEC Summit in 2022.
Minister reiterated India’s commitment to make meaningful contributions to strengthening BIMSTEC agricultural cooperation through ongoing initiatives like Govt. of India’s fully funded BIMSTEC Agricultural Scholarship Program, and training programmes and workshops on seed sector development, animal health and pest management, and emerging fields like nanotechnology management and applications of remote sensing in agriculture that were recently conducted.
The Minister underlined India’s commitment in the establishment of the proposed BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Agriculture in New Delhi. Minister Shri Chouhan held a bilateral meeting with Mr Lyonpo Younten Phuntsho, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock (MOAL) of Bhutan.
The Ministers reviewed bilateral cooperation in the field of Agriculture, livestock and allied sectors with focus on areas like development of irrigation channels, mega farms etc. The Ministers also discussed about signing a MoU on technical cooperation between the two countries soon.
Minister stressed on India’s commitment in furthering India’s ties with Bhutan. The Bhutanese side stressed on resource constraints and requested the Indian side for augmenting its funding support to Bhutanese initiatives.
Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan called on Shri K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal. The two leaders reaffirmed the close and friendly relations between India and Nepal and discussed ways to further strengthen India-Nepal cooperation in the field of agriculture.
The Ministers conveyed hope that the newly signed MoU will pave way for increased cooperation between both the countries in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan reiterated India’s commitment to support Nepal in agriculture and allied sectors through setting up of an agro-industrial park in Chitwan and a fertilizer plant in Nepal. Both sides also discussed market access issues.