India-US discusses agricultural cooperation, food security

New Delhi, Sep 14 (ANI): As part of US Government's partnership with India on agricultural cooperation and food security, the first meeting of the U.S.-India Agriculture Dialogue steering committee took place at Hyderabad House here on Tuesday.

Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs Robert D. Hormats, U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Jim Miller, and Deputy Coordinator for Development, Office of the Coordinator of Global Hunger and Food Security and U.S Department of State Ambassador William Garvelink held the meeting along with a delegation led by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

The committee, comprised of officials from relevant U.S. government and Indian agencies and ministries, met to identify areas of cooperation for working groups on strategic cooperation in agriculture and food security; food processing, farm-to-market linkages and agricultural extension; and crop and weather forecasting.

Agricultural cooperation dates back to the early days of Indo-U.S. relations and the first green revolution.

In 2009, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh committed to taking practical steps to advance global food security and increase U.S.-India agricultural cooperation. (ANI)