FAO regional confce begins in city today

Bangladesh is set to host a regional conference of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the first time. As many as 900 representatives from different countries are expected to take part virtually and in-person in the conference in Dhaka. 

In a media briefing on Monday, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said that the 36th conference of the FAO Asia and the Pacific region will begin on Tuesday (today) and continue until March 11. 

A total of 46 countries will have their agriculture ministers, secretaries, and officials from other public and private organisations attend the conference. 

The FAO director-general, 43 member states, representatives of different UN agencies, development partners, NGOs and civil society members have already registered for the conference. Although the conference will be opening on March 8, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate the event at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on March 10. 

Senior officers, agriculture secretaries and other high-ups will participate in different sessions in the first two days of the conference. The ministerial meetings will be held on March 10 and 11. The main session of the conference will be held at the Hotel Inter-Continental, while the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre will be the venue for the inaugural session. Also, 17 stalls will be set up for country showcasing. The conference will focus on the food and agriculture situation in the Asia Pacific region amid the Covid-19 pandemic as well as ways to ensure sustainable food and agriculture systems that suit the climate in the region, said Razzaque. The issues of agricultural value chain digitisation, economic cooperation, and combined investment will also be on the agenda, he added. “We want to showcase our capacity globally by organising the conference successfully so that we can attract the interest of other international organisations to hold their conferences in Bangladesh in future.”