1st ASEAN-INDIA Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture

8th October, 2011

Shri Sharad Pawar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries co-chaired the 1st ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture on 8 October, 2011 at Jakarta, Indonesia with Dr. Suswono, Minister of Agriculture, Indonesia. The Ministers of Agriculture of Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam; Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia; Deputy Secretary-General, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Malaysia; Under Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Philippines; Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of National Development and Defence, Singapore; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand; Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta and their respective delegations including Shri Biren Nanda, Ambassador of India in Indonesia; Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR; Dr. R.K. Mittal, Asstt. Director General (EQR), ICAR and Shri Vimlendra Sharan, PS to Agriculture Minister from India, participated in the Meeting.

Expressing thanks to the Republic of Indonesia for organizing the 1st Meeting of Agriculture Ministers, Shri Pawar emphasized on the need to closely elaborate the strengths and dynamics of agriculture sector both in India and ASEAN for its advancement and continued development. He also called for the implementation and integration of agriculture cooperation for the mutual advantage and benefit of both regions. The Terms of Reference and Medium Term Plan (2011-2015) developed in the First Meeting of the ASEAN-India Working Group on Agriculture held on January 29-31, 2011 at New Delhi were adopted in the meeting. Also, the appreciation to India was expressed for its cooperation and support in the areas of research and development and agriculture cooperatives. Progress in the activities such as  publication of ASEAN-India Newsletter on Agriculture; institution of ASEAN-India Fellowships for higher education in the field of Agriculture and allied sciences; holding of a Conference of Heads of Agricultural Universities in India; exchange visits of farmers; workshop on adaptation/mitigation technologies for climate change; training programmes and the ASEAN-India Agri-Expo was reviewed.

The 2nd Meeting of ASEAN-India Ministers of Agriculture was decided to be held in India, tentatively in the first week of November 2012, back-to-back with the ASEAN-India Agricultural Expo.

(Source : Education Division, ICAR)