At the invitation of the Government of Myanmar, the “BIMSTEC Regional Workshop on Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agricultural Value Chains” was held from 30-31 July 2018 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Delegates from BIMSTEC Member States i.e. Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the workshop. Mr. Han Thein Kyaw, Director in charge of Agriculture sector attended the workshop as the representative of the Secretary General of BIMSTEC.

The workshop discussed and explored ideas on how to improve and manage value chain on agricultural products in the region and how to increase export promotion in the Member States with the participation of private sector. The Member States underscored the need for harmonizing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for trade facilitation and also stressed the importance of sharing information on existing laws and policy on contract farming and public-private partnership to develop the agricultural value chains among them. The Director informed the workshop that the Secretariat has uploaded agricultural information of some BIMSTEC Member States on its Website aiming to serve as a data bank and encouraged the Member States to make use of the available resources.

The workshop suggested holding the next BIMSTEC Workshop on “the Role the Public-Private Partnership in Developing Value Chains through Post Harvest Management” in one of the Member States upon their convenience.