Agriculture Minister Md Abdur Razzaque, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim and delegates from other countries pose at the closing ceremony of the 36th session of the FAO regional conference for Asia and the Pacific in the city on Friday — PID A battle of words between Japan and Russian Federation over the Russia-Ukraine war marked the concluding session of the FAO's four-day 36th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC-36) on Friday, in Dhaka.
China also joined the rally and criticised Japan for tabling such a matter on a platform like the APRC, dedicated to food security.
Terming the Russia-Ukraine war an 'aggression', Japanese delegate as well as minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries Yutaka Arai urged the APRC member countries to criticise Russia over the issue.
Russia, also a member of the APRC, sought floor and criticised Japan's move to table such a political issue in the APRC.
Victor Vasiliev, permanent representative of Russian Federation to the FAO and other UN agencies in Rome, said the APRC is for discussing issues related with food and food security.
The issue Japan is discussing here should be discussed in the UN Security Council, not here, he opined.
Chinese vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs You Xiang Ma also echoed him, and requested the member countries to discuss only the issues that the APRC fixed earlier.
The FAO earlier declared that the war issue was not a part of the conference agendas. On the inauguration day of the programme, FAO Bangladesh representative Robert D Simpson, while responding to reporters over the Russia-Ukraine war's impact on the commodity market, said: "A direct answer, there is no specific agenda about this war in the APRC."
"Different issues that impact food system and food security, including climate change as well as forced migration due to impacts caused by humans, are the subjects dedicated to the conference. We will also discuss ways to make our food system more resilient to different shocks and externalities," he said on March 08.
However, ensuring better production, nutrition, environment, and better life in the post-Covid period were promised in the APRC-36.
Bangladesh hosted the four-day FAO event (March 08-11) for the first time that brought in political delegates, officials, experts, and media personnel from 46 countries.
Apart from the government officials, some 900 people from the member states, FAO senior officials, representatives of various UN bodies, development partners, NGOs, and members of civil society participated in the hybrid conference, held at Hotel Intercontinental and Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.
The APRC-36 made Bangladesh chair of the platform for the next two years, while Sri Lanka was set as the 37th APRC venue.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, at the concluding press meet of the APRC, claimed that prices of coarse rice did not increase, as the item was trading at Tk 40-43 a kg at district level.
Both Mr Razzaque and Food Minister Shadhan Chandra Majumder opined that there is no variety of rice named Nazirshail or Miniket, as those names are given by millers and traders for marketing.
Food Secretary Dr Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum said her ministry along with the FAO has taken a project to prepare 'a rice milling guideline', which could help force traders to market rice varieties in their original names - given by the government agencies like Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.
Agriculture Secretary Md Sayedul Islam also spoke in the press meet.
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