SAARC Agriculture centre (SAC) organized a SAARC Regional Consultation on “Fostering Investment for Sustainable Agricultural Development for SAARC Member Countries: Public-Private-Farmer Cooperation (PPFC)” in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 23-25 October 2019. The program was jointly organized by SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Sri Lanka and ActionAid Bangladesh.  The consultation program aims to establish favorable conditions to attract responsible investment in agriculture sectors through a clear policy and regulatory framework nationally and a more coherent approach across SAARC.

Mr. K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, Honorable Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Sri Lanka was graced as the Chief Guest. Mr. Ajantha De Silva, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Sri Lanka was present as the Special Guest. Dr. S. M. Bokhtiar, Director, SAARC Agriculture Centre and Dr. Dr.Ranjith Punyawardena, Principal Scientist, Natural Resource Management (NRM) Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka were present as guests of honor. Mr. Helal Uddin, South Asia Advocacy Coordinator, POWER Project , ActionAid International was also present as a guest in the inaugural session.

The consultation meeting was attended by more than 40 participants from different institutions, organizations and SAARC member countries- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,  Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On behalf of SAC Dr. Md. Younus Ali, Senior Technical Officer, SAC coordinated the consultation and led the SAARC delegation to Colombo.