U.S. Government Delegation Visits New Delhi to Hold Meetings on Food Security and U.S.-Indian Agricultural Cooperation

September 14, 2010

New Delhi - As part of the U.S. government's partnership with India on agricultural cooperation and food security, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs Robert D. Hormats, USDA Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Jim Miller, and Deputy Coordinator for Development, Office of the Coordinator of Global Hunger and Food Security, U.S Department of State Ambassador William Garvelink, along with a Government of India delegation led by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, held the first meeting of the U.S.-India Agriculture Dialogue steering committee at Hyderabad House today.

The committee, comprised of officials from relevant U.S. government and Indian agencies and ministries, met to identify areas of cooperation for Working Groups on Strategic Cooperation in Agriculture and Food Security; Food Processing, Farm-to-market Linkages and Agricultural Extension; and Crop and Weather Forecasting.

Agricultural cooperation dates back to the early days of Indo-U.S. relations and the first green revolution. In 2009, President Obama and Prime Minister Singh committed to taking practical steps to advance global food security and increase U.S.-India agricultural cooperation.