Union Agri Minister meets top officials from US, UK at G20 meet

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar held bilateral meetings with officials from the US and other member countries at the ongoing G20 Agriculture Ministers Meet in Hyderabad and discussed ways to enhance cooperation with them for the overall development of the farming sector.

In his meeting with a senior US official on Friday, he said India and America have a comprehensive global strategic partnership, covering almost all sectors and that both share democratic values and convergence of interests on several issues.

The partnership is driven by vibrant people-to-people contact, he was quoted as saying in an official release.

Noting that agriculture is a focus area for the Government of India, he said, in recent years, India has taken several major initiatives to make agriculture sustainable as well as to improve farmers' income and farm productivity.

He opined that India can benefit from America's advanced technology in agriculture. Tomar also had meetings with the top officials from Japan and Italy, the release said.

"Union Minister Tomar, in the meetings with all these countries, expressed gratitude for their cooperation for the Deccan High-Level Concept on Food Security and Nutrition-2023," it added.

Thanking the participating countries, Tomar said that by complementing each other's efforts to address the issue of food insecurity, the G20 has shown commitment to tackle malnutrition.