Tomar Hails Trail-Blazing G20 Agri Working Group Meeting

Hyderabad: Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar lauded G20 members for their notable contributions towards making a success of the Agriculture Working Group (AWG) proceedings, which resulted in key outcomes-“outcome document and chair’s summary”. He said that millets would be supplied through the public distribution system (PDS) if state governments come forward to procure them.

Tomar along with union ministers of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje addressed a press conference here on Saturday.

He said that India hosted the ‘Voice of Global South Summit 2023’ virtually on January 12-13. It was themed “Unity of voice, unity of purpose”. The country is to consult developing countries not represented in G20, on their developmental priorities and what they expected from India through its presidency, he said. The idea was to ensure that developing countries feel more actively engaged with the G20 process and, in turn, G20 could promote “human-centric development”, he said.

Highlighting India's achievements in the agriculture sector, he mentioned that the approach towards food security and nutrition was guided by the "One earth, one family, one future" G20 spirit. The commitment to achieve SDG 2 - ending hunger, and attaining food and nutrition security was also reiterated. He spoke about the importance of ‘LIFE’ (Lifestyle for Environment as it would lead to more efficient use of natural resources and reduce emissions.  

Dr. Ramesh Chand, member, NITI Aayog, gave a presentation on “Global Food Security and Nutrition” highlighting the present day challenges and possible solutions.

Meanwhile, the three-day G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting adopted the agreed outcome document titled “Outcome document and chair’s summary”.

Director general of ICAR Dr. Himanshu Pathak and secretary (fisheries) J.N. Swain along with top officials from G-20 countries were also present.