Afghanistan’s Agriculture Minister Maulvi Ataullah Omari, during his visit to India, stressed the need to modernize the agriculture sector. Expressing his gratitude to India for the warm welcome, he said that this is a hope for the Afghan people.
New Delhi [भारत]July 10 (ANI): Afghanistan’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Maulvi Ataullah Omari on Friday thanked India for the warm welcome and stressed the need to modernize the country which is mainly dependent on agriculture. He said these things while participating in the industry interactive session ‘India-Afghanistan Business Opportunities’ organized by PHDCCI under the aegis of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Omari said, “This is my first visit to India. From the day I landed in India, I got a warm welcome from the Indian government, the Foreign Minister and everyone I met. It feels like I am among my own people… It feels like our own country, and as you mentioned, our DNA is the same, so that’s the idea.”
He described Indian hospitality as a ray of hope for Afghans and said in the press conference, “This warm welcome that we received is like a hope for the people of Afghanistan and their betterment… 80 percent of our population is engaged in livestock, agriculture and irrigation, now the time has come to modernize them with new technology.”
He said that high quality fruits are produced in Afghanistan, but the country currently lacks the modern infrastructure and training needed to maximize these yields. He further said, “We grow the best quality of fruits. Farmers need to harvest crops. Crops need to be protected. Crops need to be stored. We need to educate our farmers in this regard. For this we need your help.”
He said the current Afghan administration is working to unify the country’s development efforts and is actively seeking foreign cooperation to bring prosperity.
Bilateral relations reviewed
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that India and Afghanistan took stock of bilateral relations during the fourth round of the India-Afghanistan Joint Committee meeting in the national capital on Thursday. India also assured its continued support for the development of Afghanistan. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, both sides reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations including cooperation in the areas of humanitarian assistance, development partnership, food security, healthcare, capacity building, education, sports, trade, visas and connectivity.
Meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan
On Wednesday, he held a bilateral meeting with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development, to review the existing agricultural partnership between the two countries and discuss new avenues of cooperation.
Food security, seed systems and crop productivity emerged as major areas of discussion. The Afghan side highlighted the importance of wheat to its agricultural economy and sought India’s cooperation in improving wheat productivity through advanced seed technologies and research collaboration.
Chouhan expressed India’s readiness to support Afghanistan through quality wheat, maize and potato seeds, climate-resilient and bio-fortified crop varieties and scientific expertise of ICAR institutions to strengthen Afghanistan’s seed systems and agricultural production.
Afghanistan’s Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Minister, Maulvi Ataullah Omari reached New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI)
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