New Delhi, Sep 3 (TIWN) Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala on Thursday reaffirmed India's commitment to fulfil the aspirations of Asia-Pacific regional countries and share responsibility to ensure food security for all.

“Our ‘neighbours first’ policy will live up to the aspirations of the region with collaboration in the exchange of best practices in research and development and programmatic interventions to step up production and productivity of agriculture produce,” said Rupala at the ‘Hand-in-Hand’ Ministerial Session on the third day of the 35th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference (APRC) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

Government delegates from 46 FAO Member Nations, along with private sector and civil society organizations, came together for four days at the 35th session of the FAO APRC being hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan.

This virtual conference was convened to plan responses and recovery work to address the twin pandemics — COVID-19 and hunger.