State Minister of Agriculture Wasantha Aluwihare speaking on behalf of Sri Lanka highlighted the hardship that has been caused due to the drought and unexpected heavy rain in Sri Lanka at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture and the Agriculture Ministers Summit in Berlin on 21st January.
On the sideline of the Opening Ceremony of the Green Week 2017, the biggest exhibition of food and agricultural products in Europe, the State Minister had meetings with the German Federal Minister of Agriculture Dr. Christian Schmidt and the President of the German Farmers Association.
On 20th January, the State Minister met representatives of NGOs from the agricultural sector and had bilateral talks with the Minister of Agriculture of Sierra Leone, Prof. Monty Jones, during which he invited the Minister from Sierra Leone to visit Sri Lanka. On 21st January, he participated in the Agricultural Ministers Summit, which took place at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. More than 80 Ministers of Agriculture from all around the world attended the summit under the topic of “Agriculture and Water – A Key to feeding the World”.
During the summit, the State Minister met the ministers of India, Nepal, Singapore, Japan and Sweden, and highlighted the present drought situation in Sri Lanka. State Minister Aluwihare also had fruitful interactions with EU Commissioner of Agriculture Phil Hogan and Director General of FAO José Graziano da Silva. He requested his colleagues to take a decisive and sustainable approach to contain droughts and famines due to climate change. After the conclusion of the summit, the State Minister showed himself very satisfied with the outcome. “It was a great step forward in safeguarding the most important resource for agriculture around the world,” he said.
The State Minister also met the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller, and visited several agricultural enterprises, storage facilities and bio gas projects to exchange views and gather new information for value addition in the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka.
During the meeting with professors and agriculture experts of Free University, Berlin State Minister proposed to develop academic exchange and research initiatives with Sri Lankan universities and research institutes.
Ambassador Karunatilaka Amunugama and Dr. Gerry Jayawardena, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture joined the State Minister during the discussions.