Pakistan, USA to boost agricultural cooperation

Pakistan and the United States will hold talks on cooperation in areas of agriculture in February next year.

Though the dates are yet to be announced, Food Security Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar told US Ambassador Paul W. Jones during a meeting here on Tuesday that the Prime Minister had emphasised that agricultural cooperation between the two countries must be prioritised.

Bakhtyar said that the government is looking forward to working in developing cold chain, value addition facilities in various horticulture products, dairy and meat. Joint ventures in these areas would be a convenient approach for unleashing potential in a short span of time, he suggested. He said the government is looking for a healthy cooperation in agro sector especially tapping on Pakistan’s significant halal meat production and entering the world market through US support.

“We are focusing on mutual collaboration by providing enabling platform in public sector, and the incumbent government has launched largest agriculture development programme worth over Rs3 billion, which shows our commitment towards the revival of this sector,” he said.