Friday, March 19, 2010

Nepal-Israel sign agriculture cooperation agreement

Nepal and Israel have signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of agriculture.
Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav and minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel Shalom Shimon signed the agreement on 'Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture ' on behalf of their respective governments on Wednesday.
Speaking during the signing ceremony and dinner hosted in honour of the Nepali minister and his delegation by Shimon in Jerusalem, Yadav expressed the hope that the agreement would pave the way for opportunities in the field wherein peoples of both countries would benefit.
He also sought the Israeli government's support for initiating active bilateral agriculture cooperation, particularly in technology transfer for mutual benefit. Yadav also called for greater and diversified interaction between at the professional as well as government levels of both the countries in the days ahead. Shimon said Israel has various kinds of agriculture systems based on high-technology as well as other proven systems and that it is very much optimistic about the outcome of the agreement and assured that his country is keen to promote agricultural cooperation with Nepal.
Yadav also met with other various senior officials including Israel's reputed agricultural entrepreneurs and industrialists and toured different locations of Israel to observe different agricultural sites, technology farms, and research and development stations including the high-tech based irrigation and farming system. During the course of its visit, the Nepalese delegation also held extensive interaction with Israeli agricultural researchers, producers, exporters, farmers as well as Nepali agriculture on-the-job-training students in Israel.
Earlier on Monday, the Nepali delegation held bilateral meetings with the Israeli government delegation led by Shimon. They discussed bilateral matters pertaining to agricultural cooperation, transfer of agricultural technology and exchange of visits on professional, academic as well as official levels. Nepal's ambassador to Israel Baijnath Thapalia Israel was also present during the meeting.
Yadav was in Israel on an official visit from March 14 to 18, leading a four- member Nepali delegation comprising National Planning Commission member Prof Subodh Narayan Jha, Joint Secretary at the ministry Dr Hari Dahal and Registrar at the Department of Cooperatives Maheshwor Sharma Paudel.
Yadav left Israel for Kathmandu today.

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