Indonesian Ambassador Ms. Dewi Gustina Tobing meets with Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, K.D. Lalkantha.

This meeting took place recently at the Govijana Mandiraya of the Ministry of Agriculture. The main objective of this discussion was to strengthen the agricultural sector by developing mutual understanding between the two countries, enhancing partnerships, and developing import-export opportunities for agricultural products.

Indonesia, with a population of approximately 280 million, is an agricultural country. Because a large population lives there, Indonesia imports food as well as various other products. The Ambassador informed the Minister that since food items such as chicken meat, milk, and eggs are also imported from foreign countries, there is potential to provide those opportunities to Sri Lanka.

She also expressed that her government is very willing to engage in transactions with Sri Lanka because there is a large future plan in the dairy production sector. The Minister explained to the Ambassador that challenges can be overcome because the country's farming community is engaged in agriculture without fear about the future and because they are involved in animal production in the livestock sector. The Minister further stated that his government hopes to work with mutual understanding, and agriculture industry collapsed due to the actions taken by previous governments, and that there will be no opportunity for this to happen again in the future.

The Ambassador expressed that she was very pleased with this discussion and participated in this discussion because progress in the agriculture industry can be seen in the country. She also stated that in the future, a committee could be appointed with the agreement of both countries to discuss and decide on further development of the agriculture industry and import-export opportunities.

A group of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture also participated on this occasion.