On 25 September 2019, the Kyrgyz side chaired a meeting of the SCO Permanent Working Group on Agriculture in Bishkek.
Experts discussed a wide range of matters regarding the further expansion of agriculture cooperation, including a draft plan for implementing the SCO Programme of Cooperation in Food Security adopted in 2018 in Dushanbe, hereinafter referred to as Plan. Opening the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food Industry and Land Reclamation of the Kyrgyz Republic Amangeldi Isayev noted the topicality of the document in the context of maintaining SCO food security, exposing and preventing food security threats and minimising their negative impact.
"Food security is an inalienable component of state and economic security, and the SCO countries need to streamline cooperation in this sphere," Mr Isayev pointed out.
Experts discussed the draft Plan and agreed to continue coordinating the document at the Group's next meeting.
The parties also discussed next steps on how to invigorate their cooperation by taking part in agricultural exhibitions and seminars. They listened to a report on holding an agricultural fair in October 2019 in Yangling, the People's Republic of China, and a thematic seminar on food security in Bishkek in 2020.
The sides signed a Protocol after the event. There are plans to hold the Group's next meeting in early December 2019 in the Russian Federation.