I2U2 Group Leaders Meeting on Food Security & other issues

Mar 25: According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there is no proposal to form an I2U2 consortium to develop agriculture and its allied technology to increase productivity.  However, the Prime Ministers of India and Israel, Presidents of the USA and UAE convened the first leaders’ meeting of the “I2U2” Group. This unique grouping of countries aims to tackle challenges confronting the world with a particular focus on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security. To this end, the I2U2 leaders highlighted the initiative on Food Security under which there will be the development of a series of integrated food parks across India.

Further, on the margins of the I2U2 Business Forum, India joined the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate-AIM4C) on 22 February 2023 by signing the letter of intent. AIM4C was launched by the UAE and the US at the Conference of Parties-26 (COP26) and includes Israel as a partner among 140 other governmental and non-governmental entities. AIM4C seeks to address climate change and global hunger by uniting partners to significantly increase the investment in and other support for climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation for the period of five years (2021-2025).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India signed a Work Plan Program on 24^th May 2021 for 3 years (2021-23) with Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Israel to accomplish the completion of the Centers of Excellence (CoE) by bringing them to the operational stage, development of Value Chain and Hi-tech agriculture for the production of quality planting material in fruits and vegetable crops.