The FAO 36th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC36) is being held in Bangladesh for the first time on 8-11 March 2022. A joint venture between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will organise the programme. On the occasion of the successful organization of this conference, a meeting of the steering committee was held in the conference room of the Ministry of Agriculture at the Secretariat on Thursday morning.
At this time, the Minister of Agriculture and Presidium member of the Awami League Dr Md Abdur Razzaque said, "We have all the preparations for the successful organization of this big conference. This is an important conference in which the countries of Asia and Pacific region of FAO will participate. We are moving from developing countries to developed countries. We would like to highlight our capabilities to the world so that other international organizations may be interested in hosting conferences in Bangladesh in the future.”
The meeting was attended by Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md Saidul Islam, FAO Country Representative Robert Simpson and other senior officials of the Ministry, heads of agencies and FAO representatives.
A delegation from the International Center for Maize and Wheat Development (CIMIT) met with Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque. Summit Country Representative Timothy J Krupnik, Country Head (Administration) Raihan Sadat, Cropping Systems Agronomist Mahesh Kumar Gathala, Emeritus Professor of Bakribi and Consultant MA Sumtar Mandal of Summit and other officials concerned were present.
At the time, the country representative of the summit, Timothy J Krupnik said the Summit will work with more emphasis on the development of salinity, chars and various adverse environments or tolerant wheat and maize varieties in Bangladesh. At the same time, it will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture on sustainable production of wheat and maize in the country.
Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque at the meeting highlighted the success of wheat and maize production in Bangladesh in the last 12 years. He said the country currently produces about 57 lakh tonnes of maize. But corn processing is very low. The demand for cornflakes and cereals is increasing day by day in the country. Foreign investment is needed to make cornflakes and cereals locally processed from corn. The Minister sought the cooperation of the Summit to ensure that institutions like Kellogg's invest in Bangladesh. The Minister said that many non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh are interested in investing in this field, with which Kellogg's can also jointly invest.
The summit will take initiative in this regard, said the country representative of the summit, Timothy J. Krupnik.