President Ranil Wickramasinghe said that the government is committed to uplifting Sri Lanka as a major exporter of agricultural crops with a rapid transformation of the agricultural sector.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said this while addressing the opening session of the 37th session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Asia and Pacific Conference in Colombo.
Pointing out that agriculture played a huge role in facing the last economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the President also mentioned that agriculture and tourism industry have been identified as two main sectors that can quickly rebuild the country.
About 70% of the total population in the Asia-Pacific region depends on agriculture. This year’s conference will focus on a number of areas including nutritious food production, food consumption security, increasing food production, maintaining environmental security, controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and controlling the risk of climate change.
Dr. Qu Dongyu, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) also participated in the event.
Diplomats and representatives of 34 countries, including the United States, China and Russia, among the 46 member countries of the Asia-Pacific region of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, are participating in this conference. Sri Lanka will hold the presidency of the Asia-Pacific region of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization until 2026.
Sri Lanka hosted the 2nd conference held in 1955 and this time Sri Lanka is hosting this conference after 69 years.