ISLAMABAD: 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 Prime Minister Imran Khan 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.

Bakhtyar informed the envoy that achieving high yield through scientific means would enable the government to plan the crop sowing priorities and meet the challenges of production, especially enhancing cotton, pulses and edible oil growth indigenously for there is a huge import bill of these commodities.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019