EU, Bangladesh commit to flourishing good nutrition
City Desk :
The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh organised a high-level event in collaboration with the Partners of the Food and Nutrition Security Programme for Bangladesh.
The event, titled “The European Union and the Government of Bangladesh in Partnership for Good Nutrition through Good Governance,” was held at a Dhaka hotel on Sunday with the participation of government and non-governmental organizations, reports BSS.
Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Agriculture Minister, was the chief guest for the morning session.
He highlighted that the Ministry of Agriculture has made it a priority to develop a self-sufficient and sustainable agricultural system and aims to achieve this through increased agricultural productivity, modernization of agriculture marketing, and the adoption of new technologies.
M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Principal Secretary of PMO, was the chief guest for the afternoon session.
“It is essential for nutrition security to be driven by the Government of Bangladesh with a strong political will and explicit commitments by leaders to end malnutrition in all its forms. This cannot be achieved without sustainable, resilient, and nutrition-sensitive food systems,” he said.
The welcome remarks were delivered by Jurate Smalskyte Merville, Counsellor, Team Leader at the Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, and the closing remarks by Charles Whiteley, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh.
Both EU Delegates highlighted the importance of food and nutrition security across Bangladesh based on achievements shared during the event.
They emphasized the importance of continuing the support and investments to the FNS interventions through GO-NGO, Private Sector, UN agencies and CSOs.
In addition, the Director General of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit, Momtaz Uddin and the Director General of Bangladesh National Nutrition Council, Dr Shahriar Kabir highlighted the importance of multisector partnership and also building capacity of subnational governance structure.
Special guests at the event included Sarah Cooke, British High Commissioner and Md Mahmudul Hossain Khan, Secretary, Coordination and Reforms, Cabinet Division.
The event consisted of three panel sessions.
The first panel session was on production to consumption of nutritious food. Panellists included Secretaries from Ministry of Agriculture (Wahida Akter), Ministry of Food (Md. Ismiel Hossain ndc), and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (Md. Aminul Islam).
