Regional Meeting: Third BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture

Nepal hosted the Third BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture in Kathmandu on 9th April. Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation U Min Naung joined the meeting via video conferencing. Co-chaired by Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal Mr. Ramnath Adhikari and Union Minister U Min Naung, the meeting was attended by Agriculture Ministers and officials from BIMSTEC member countries both in person and online.

During the meeting, current development process of agriculture and food safety sector was reviewed, goals, while settling the priority and initial cooperation activities of agriculture and related sectors. The meeting also adopted the BIMSTEC Fishery and Livestock Breeding Sector Cooperation Business plan, and approved the joint declaration of the meeting.

The discussions were also made to set date and location for the 4th meeting. In his speech, the Union Minister encouraged to work on strengthing  workforce and infrastructure, narrowing technology and knowledge gap between member countries to tackle the challenges in boosting agriculture sector within the region. 

According to 2023-2027 BIMSTEC Fishery and Livestock Breeding Cooperation Business Plan, it’s necessary to ensure systematic soil and natural resources utilization and management as well as to emphasize on technology transparency and capacity enhancement of the personnel.

In order to enhance agricultural product trading and investment in Myanmar, the National Export Strategy Dialogue is set to be held on 18th June 2025 through video conferencing. The Union Minister also expressed his appreciations for the contribution of member countries for earthquake victims in Myanmar.

The meeting concluded following a consensus to convene the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture biennially, with Sri Lanka hosting the 4th meeting. Earlier on 9th April, the third BIMSTEC Senior Officials' Meeting on Agriculture was held, and it was co-chaired by the Secretary at Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal and the Director General of Department of Planning under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.

During the meeting, development process of agriculture, fisheries and livestock sectors of the BIMSTEC member countries were reviewed and discussions were made to successfully implement the further strategies.