The SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh celebrated the 36th SAARC Charter Day on 13th December, 2020. The celebration began with the hosting of flags of SAARC Member States by the dignitaries from High Commission/ Embassy, senior officials from BARC and NARS. It was followed by release of pigeon to spread the message of “Peace, Support and Cooperation” among SAARC Member States. The technical session of SAARC charter day celebration began at 11.00 AM.
The technical session started with the delivering of welcome address by Dr. Mian Sayeed Hassan, Director, SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. After welcoming the guests and dignitaries, he made a brief presentation of the SAARC Agriculture Centre’s year-round activities in the field of crop science, livestock, fisheries, horticulture, natural resource management and policy for the benefit of the SAARC Member States. He also highlighted the recent achievements of the centre particularly on publication of books, policy briefs and SAARC Journal of Agriculture etc. He informed the house about the recent approval of multi-country project on “Consortium for scaling-up climate smart agriculture in South Asia”, supported by IFAD as well as ongoing multi-country project entitled “Livelihood enhancement of the small farmers in SAARC region through small scale agro-business focussing on value chain development”, supported by SAARC Development Fund.
Professor Dr. Md. Giashuddin Miah, the Vice Chancellor, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh delivered the keynote address on “Regional cooperation in agriculture for addressing food and nutrition security amidst COVID-19 pandemic”. He urged for more collaboration among SAARC Member States to overcome the emerging challenges of agriculture and allied sectors in view of either pandemic or climate change.
Dr. Md. Abdur Rouf, the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh graced the occasion as “Special Guest”. He applauded the SAARC Agriculture Centre for its countless achievements in the field of regional capacity building, expert consultation meeting, policy guidelines and worthy publication on emerging challenges of South Asian agriculture and allied sectors. He emphasized on strengthening of partnership among the SAARC Member States to mitigate the complex challenges of agriculture.
On behalf of Honourable Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, the Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Mr. Md. ShamsulHaque, the Additional Foreign Secretary (SAARC & BIMSTEC) read out the message of the Chief Guest. The address of the Chief Guest reiterated for stronger cooperation among SAARC Member States in the broader areas of agriculture to fulfil the aspirations of regional people; particularly the small and marginal farmers, who are toiling their efforts and sacrifices for producing foods from crops, livestock and fisheries. He complimented SAARC Agriculture Centre’s endeavours for regional food and livelihood security.
Dr. S.M. Bokhtiar, the Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, delivered the Chairman’s address during the technical session of the SAARC Charter Day celebration. He opined that the SAARC is a unique platform in the region which could facilitate to work collectively in the arena of agriculture and rural development. Applauding the Centre’s efforts on IFAD supported multi-country project and SAARC Agriculture PhD Scholarship, Dr. Bokhtiar urged to prepare Centre’s vision 2030 to align with UN declared “SDGs”. He opined that the Centre is working hard to publish books, policy briefs, journal in order to become the “Agricultural Knowledge and Information Hub in South Asia”.
The 36th SAARC Charter Day was attended by galaxy of learned participants belonging the higher officials from High Commission/ Embassy of SAARC Member States, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, BIMSTEC, Department of Agricultural Extension, Department of Livestock, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Agricultural universities, in addition to the Director General of NARS Institutes namely Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur. The 36th SAARC Charter Day Celebration was concluded with the chanting of “Long live the spirit of SAARC”.
