India hosted the 2nd BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministers meeting

Tags: National National News

India hosted the Second Agriculture Ministerial-level meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) at New Delhi on 10 November under the chairmanship of the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar. 

Important facts

• Agriculture ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the meeting.

• Tomar urged the member countries to develop a comprehensive regional strategy to strengthen cooperation for transformation in agriculture.

• Referring to the International Year of Millets - 2023, he urged for adopting a healthy diet for all.

• He asked the participating countries to actively participate in India's initiative to promote coarse cereals as food.

About 2nd BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting

• The meeting adopted the Action Plan for Strengthening BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation (2023-2027). 

• An MoU was signed between the BIMSTEC Secretariat and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and approval was given to bring the fisheries and livestock sub-sectors under the Agriculture Working Group.

About BIMSTEC

• BIMSTEC was established in 1997.

• It includes five countries of South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and two countries of South-East Asia – Myanmar and Thailand.