A Ministerial delegation of three members led by Lyonpo Yeshey Penjor, the Minister for Agriculture and Forests attended the 11^th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) with a theme, "Agriculture Goes Digital – Smart Solutions for Future Farming” from 17-19 January 2019 in Berlin, Germany along with delegations from more than 90 countries and 70 other Ministers.

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Lyonpo Yeshey Penjor interacting with the Federal Chancellor Angele Markel and Julia Klöckner, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture[/caption]

The GFFA was presided over by Her Excellency Julia Klöckner, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture of Germany. Federal Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel gr

aced the GFFA and delivered a statement on the importance of the digital transformation for agriculture on 18 January 2019.

The focus of the GFFA was on better global use and support of the potential digital revolution offers and on how people worldwide can gain easier access to digital technologies while at the same time addressing the data security issues. A GFFA Communique 2019 agreed by the Ministers and Heads of Delegations has been adopted for follow-up actions by the respective participating countries.

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Lyonpo Yeshey Penjor discussing with Svenja Schulze, Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany[/caption]

Bhutanese delegation also had bilateral meetings on the sidelines of GFFA at Berlin and in other places of Germany with the counterparts on possible collaborations in the fields of sustainable conservation of natural resources, sustainable production and utilisation of food resources, standardisation and certification of RNR products etc. Some of the important bilateral meetings and site visits includes:

Meeting with Focal Desk Officer, European Commission, Agriculture & Rural Development.
Meeting with Dr. Barbara Hendricks, Former Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and now Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Cono Sur States (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay) at the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft.
Meeting with Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany; Stefanie Hedtkamp, Desk officer Division P I 2 “International Affairs and Protocol” and Mr. Frank Barsch, Desk officer Division N I 4 “International Cooperation on Biodiversity”.
Meeting with Aleksandra Pivec, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Slovenia.
Meeting with Alexander Klaußner, Chairman, Bhutan Help Society and Dr. Rima , Lake Konstanz, Germany (20 January 2019).
Meeting with Countess Bettina Bernadotte, Managing Director and Owner of Mainau Island.
Meeting with the Primavera Life Company, Oy-Mittelberg, Germany.

Submitted by Policy and Planning Division

BAFRA	1555
DAMC	2009
RDC Wengkhar	204
NCAH, DoL	1224

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