The International Food Policy Research Institute and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Secretariat signed a memorandum of understanding at a city hotel on Sunday.
The MoU will felicitate further collaboration and partnerships to work towards a sustainable and inclusive transformation of food systems in the region.
BIMSTEC secretary general Tenzin Lakphell and IFPRI director general Johan Swinnen signed the memorandum of understanding representing both parties in presence of the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Mashiur Rahman as chief guest.
Speaking as special guest at the ceremony, Tenzin Lakphell said that the MoU would initially focuses on three major areas like food security and poverty, trade and investment and climate change and environment.
‘The BIMSTEC region has a huge, largely still untapped trade potential. It is also home to about 1.8 billion people, and it is facing a number of challenges related to food and nutrition security,’ he said.
Johan Swinnen said, ‘IFPRI is delighted to engage in this partnership and work with the BIMSTEC secretariat as well as member of countries’ research institutions on capacity sharing initiatives along with outreach and policy communications through cross-country learning and idea exchange.’
The IFPRI, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the BIMSTEC secretariat, is conducting research and felicitating capacity sharing in the region to help the BIMSTEC full potential in the agro-food domain.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury and IFPRI director for South Asia Shahidur Rashid, among others, spoke at the event.
This article was originally published in New Age on March 6, 2023.