India–Nepal Joint Agriculture Working Group Meeting Commits to Further Strengthen Cooperation
29 December 2025
The Governments of India and Nepal concluded their 9th Joint Agriculture Working Group meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 28–29 December 2025. This is the first high-level engagement under the new Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation signed by the two countries in April 2025. Dr. Hari Bahadur KC, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of the Government of Nepal, and Dr. Pramod Kumar Meherda, Additional Secretary at the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of the Government of India, co-chaired the meeting.
In 2024–2025, agricultural trade between India and Nepal exceeded $1.6 billion. The meeting affirmed a commitment by both parties to further deepen and strengthen their trade relationship.
Key agreements and commitments of the meeting included:
- Development of a Biennial Action Plan within three months to implement agricultural cooperation initiatives
- Improved logistics processes for smooth supply of chemical fertilizers
- Hold regular dialogues between relevant agencies (DFTQC, FSSAI) to resolve technical issues on food quality and quarantine
- Cooperate in agriculture infrastructure development
- Develop separate action plans and MoUs for cooperation between the two countries’ agricultural research councils, and the livestock and fisheries sectors
India remarked on their openness to work with Nepal in agricultural research, technology transfer and infrastructure development, in line with their Neighborhood First policy.
Nepal acknowledged India’s recognition of its laboratory tests for eight types of agricultural products and requested to further expand this list. They also remarked on the importance of ease of market access for Nepal’s agricultural products in the Indian market
Related link
Nepal-India agriculture working group meeting ends pledging to work together
