Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan calls on Prime Minister of Nepal Shri K.P. Sharma Oli

Kathamandu:9/4/25:Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the Indian delegation during the bilateral meetings with Nepal and Bhutan. He was accompanied by the Ambassador of India to Nepal Shri Naveen Srivastava, Shri Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary, DA&FW, Dr D.K. Yadava, Dy Director General (Crop Science), ICAR and Dr A.K. Mishra, Principal Scientist, ICAR in the meetings.

The bilateral meeting between Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare and rural development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Shri Ramnath Adhikari,  Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal was held today in Kathmandu. The Ministers reviewed bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and discussed ways to further enhance collaboration for mutual benefit of both nations.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of India and Nepal on cooperation in the field of Agriculture was signed. This MoU supersedes the MoU signed between both countries on 6 December 1991. The MoU will give a fresh impetus to the ongoing cooperation, especially in areas such as improving crop productivity, post-harvest management, agricultural research & capacity building, market access, agricultural trade as also climate resilient & sustainable agriculture.

Both sides discussed convening Joint Agriculture Working Group (JAWG) Meetings under the new MoU, and cooperation between the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC).  Both the Ministers reviewed the progress of India’s proposal for setting up of an Agro-Industrial Park in Chitwan. The Ministers also reviewed progress of the Agricultural projects under India’s High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) Programme in Nepal. Both sides also discussed cooperation in the livestock sector and institutional collaboration between the agricultural educational institutions of both countries.

Union Minister Shri Chouhan called on Shri Indramani Pandey, the Secretary-General, of BIMSTEC, and discussed possible areas of cooperation between India and the BIMSTEC platform in the field of agriculture. The Minister noted that the BIMSTEC countries face shared challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and issues related to food security and nutrition, which call for regional cooperation and exchange of learnings from each other’s experiences. He also noted that the BIMSTEC countries need to work together to successfully implement the BIMSTEC Plan of Action 2023-2027 that was collectively adopted in the 5^th BIMSTEC Summit in 2022. Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan reiterated India’s commitment to support Nepal in agriculture and allied sectors through the setting up of an agro-industrial park in Chitwan and a fertilizer plant in Nepal. Both sides also discussed market access issues.