INAUGURAL SESSION

(05 APRIL 2018)

SAC-Donor Coordination Meeting on SAARC Regional Agricultural Projects,

Kathmandu, 5-6 April 2018

ADDRESS BY H. E. MR. AMJAD HUSSAIN B. SIAL, SECRETARY GENERAL OF SAARC

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to Kathmandu, and to this important meeting. The participation in this meeting of representatives of our development partners is highly encouraging. I wish to thank them for their willingness to support SAARC’s endeavours.

I wish to thank the SAARC Agriculture Centre for convening this event. The arrangements made by very capable Director of the Centre, Dr. Bukhtiar, and his dedicated team for the meeting are excellent. I also wish to thank the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for co-organizing this event. Their support has been valuable.

This meeting assumes considerable significance in our bid to intensify project-based collaboration in agriculture.

As you are aware, South Asia is home to around a quarter of the global population. Despite appreciable growth over the last decade, the region continues to have 40% of the world’s poor and 35% of the globe’s undernourished, while 31% of the region’s population still live in extreme poverty.

Ensuring food and nutrition security for such a huge population is indeed an enormous challenge. It is so in spite of the fact that the region is endowed with vast agricultural landmass, featuring unmatched agricultural diversity.

Although dependence on agriculture as a major contributor to GDP has declined in a few Member States, agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the South Asian economies, while about half of the region’s population depend on agriculture for their livelihood and employment.

In spite of this, the agriculture sector encounters massive challenges, including, inter alia, increasing population, shrinking arable lands and farm sizes, rapid urbanization, impact of climate change and natural disasters. It is estimated that the region could lose between 10% to 50% of crop production by the end of the century due to global warming. Climate change is, therefore, emerging as a major threat to meeting the increasing demand for safe and nutritious food in the region.

Recognizing both the inherent challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sector, successive SAARC Summits have underscored the importance of regional cooperation in ensuring food and nutritional security through sustainable farming. The visionary pronouncements of our leaders culminated in the adoption of the “SAARC Agriculture Vision 2020”, which shows the way forward for enhanced regional engagement in the field of agriculture. I am glad to state that the SAARC Agricultural Centre (SAC), which is the Centre of Excellence, has been playing an important role in carrying forward this vision.

SAARC is committed to increase investment, promote research and development, facilitate technical cooperation and apply innovative, appropriate and reliable technologies for enhancing productivity and promoting sustainable agriculture. SAARC is keen to engage with its partners to achieve these ends, particularly in promoting project-based collaboration. In this respect, I am happy to state that our collaboration with the Australian Government, EU, ADB and FAO over the past several years has been particularly fruitful.

As you may be aware, the SAARC Agriculture Centre, in collaboration with the IFPRI South Asia Office, organized a SAARC-NARS and CGIAR Consultation Meeting in New Delhi in August last year. The meeting identified ten priority areas for project-based collaboration in agriculture. Taking advantage of the presence of the representatives of our development partners in this meeting, the Centre will present seven project proposals for their consideration. You may have seen a nice booklet entitled “Agricultural Research in SAARC Region: Common Challenges and Priorities”, and seven project proposals that have been circulated by the Centre.

I am confident that this meeting will provide a welcome opportunity to the representatives of the Member States and the Development Partners to further promote project-based collaboration in agriculture. On behalf of the SAARC Development Fund, which is the umbrella funding mechanism of SAARC, I also wish to express our willingness to join hands with our development partners in implementing agriculture-related projects in the region.

I wish the delegates very fruitful consultations and a pleasant stay in Kathmandu.

The SAARC Secretariat is available for any service to make your stay more enjoyable and comfortable.

I thank you.

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