1. The First ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, held on 8 October 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia was Co-Chaired by H.E Dr. Suswono, Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia and H.E Mr. Sharad Pawar Minister of Agriculture of India.

2. The Ministers reaffirmed their strong support in advancing cooperation under the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity (2010-2015), adopted by the 8th ASEAN-India Summit, held on 30 October 2010 in Ha Noi. The Plan of Action is envisaged to enhance cooperation in agriculture and forestry between ASEAN and India with a view to meeting the challenges of food security; exchanging information and technology, creating farmers awareness and interaction cooperating on research and development projects, encouraging agriculture and forestry-related industries, and to strengthen human resources development.

3. The Ministers welcomed and supported the entry into force of the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AI-ATIGA) and its early implementation, and looked forward to the completion of the negotiations on Trade-in-Services and Investments Agreement under the ASEAN India Free Trade Area (AIFTA) Framework. The AIFTA, in which collaboration on agriculture sectors have shown great potential of support, serves as a vehicle to help sustain the region’s growth that would benefit and improve welfare of peoples of ASEAN and India.

4. The Ministers agreed to the establishment of the ASEAN-India Working Group on Agriculture with the view to promoting and intensifying cooperation in the agriculture and forestry sector between ASEAN and India, and endorsed its Terms of Reference (TOR). The Ministers congratulated the First Meeting of the ASEAN-India Working Group on Agriculture (AIWGA), held on 29-31 January 2011 in New Delhi which had generated potential areas for ASEAN India Cooperation in Agriculture.

5. The Ministers welcomed activities to be implemented in 2011-2012, which include: publication of ASEAN India Newsletters on Agriculture, ASEAN India Fellowships Programme, Conference of Heads of Agricultural Universities, Exchange Visits of Farmers, Workshop on Adaptation/Mitigation Technologies for Climate Change, and trainings in specialized areas.

6. The Ministers adopted the Medium Term Plan of Action for ASEAN India Cooperation in Agriculture (2011-2015). The Ministers expressed their commitment to deepen their cooperation, particularly through the implementation of Medium Term Plan of Action for ASEAN India Cooperation in Agriculture (2011-2015) in the areas of i) enhancement of productivity of agricultural products and meet the challenges of food security, as well as their accessibility to global markets, ii) promote networking between government authorities concerned, as well as between agriculture experts/ scientists and the agricultural related academic institutions of ASEAN Member Countries and India, iii) promote capacity building, technology transfer, and R&D as mutually agreed for global competence in agriculture, and iv) information sharing to enhance farming practices and management skills of ASEAN and India farmers. The Ministers requested the ASEAN India Working Group on Agriculture to report the progress of activities on the implementation of Medium Term Plan of Action in their Second Meeting.

7. The Ministers agreed to have the Second Meeting of ASEAN India Ministerial Meeting in India in 2012 back-to-back with the ASEAN India Agricultural Expo. The Ministers expressed their sincere appreciation to the Government and People of Indonesia for the warm hospitality and excellent arrangements made for the Meeting.

The Meeting was attended by:

H.E. Pehin Dato Yahya, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Brunei Darussalam

H.E. Mr. Chan Tong Yves, Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia

H.E. Dr. Suswono, Minister of Agriculture, Indonesia

H.E. Mr. Vilayvanh Phomkhe, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR

H.E. Mr. Noh Bin Omar, Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Malaysia

H.E. Mr. Ohn Than, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation, Myanmar

H.E. Dr. Joel S. Rudinas, Undersecretary of Agriculture, Philippines

H.E. Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of National Development and Defence, Singapore

H.E. Miss Supatra Thanaseniwat, Permanent Secretary of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand

H.E. Dr. Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam

H.E. Mr. Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture, India

H.E. Mr. S. Pushpanathan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community