Relevance
- GS 2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context
- India hosted the 8th Meeting of Agriculture Experts of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation(BIMSTEC) Countries.
Key points
- Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (Indian Council of Agriculture Research)
- chaired the meeting.
- Thanda Kyi, Deputy Director General, Department of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Republic of the Union of Myanmar Co-Chaired the meeting.
Key highlights
- The agricultural experts at the BIMSTEC agriculture meet have favoured deepening the cooperation in the agriculture sector for food and nutritional security in the region.
- The chairman of the BIMSTEC agriculture meet highlighted The UN Food System Summit – 2021 and the transformations happening in the agriculture and food systems globally.
- The chairman urged for enhancing the engagement and deepening the cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors amongst the BIMSTEC Member States.
- It is possible 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.
- The countries, at the BIMSTEC agriculture meet, applauded 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.
Hunger Hotspots: A Report by FAO-WFP
Key discussions
- Trans-boundary diseases of livestock and poultry
- Aquatic animal diseases and biosecurity in aquaculture
- Digitalization to promote precision farm
Technology in Agriculture: India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)
BIMSTEC
- The BIMSTEC was founded in 1997 to 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.
- The countries came together one platform for cooperation in 14 key economic and social sectors of the economy.
- BIMSTEC headquarters at Kathmandu, Nepal.
- 17th BIMSTEC summit was held in Sri Lanka in April 2021.
- BIMSTEC new Secretary General: Tenzin Lekphell.
- Objective: To pursue mutual trade, connectivity and cultural, technical and economic development in the region.
- Initially, six sectors- trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries were included for sectoral cooperation which was later expanded to 14 areas of cooperation.
- Agriculture is one of the 14 sectors. Around 22 per cent of the global population live in BIMSTEC countries and agriculture & allied activities are central to the economic and social development of the region.