INDIA AGREES WITH POSITION OF FOOD SECURITY LETTER

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 002314 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EEB/TPP/MTAA/ABT FOR ANN RYAN OFFICE OF THE COUNSELOR FOR MARISSA PLOWDEN IO FOR ROBERT HAGEN AND JOHN TUMINARO AMEMBASSY ROME PASS TO US UN MISSION ROME USDA PASS FAS/OCRA/RADLER/BEAN/FERUS DEPT PASS AID FOR DAA FRANKLIN MOORE AND EGAT JOSETTE LEWIS DEPT PASS AID FOR MARGOT ELLIS ASIA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR EAID ETRD IN SUBJECT: INDIA AGREES WITH POSITION OF FOOD SECURITY LETTER REF: STATE 107298 ¶1. (U) Deputy Economic MinCouns delivered the talking points from REFTEL on October 29 to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Office of Multilateral Economic Relations Director Charanjit Singh. The letter was also delivered to MEA and an additional copy was provided to the Ministry of Agriculture. ¶2. (SBU) On Saturday, November 14, Post received a message from MEA Director for the Americas Vani Rao, stating that the Ministry "agree(s) with the position spelled out in the document "Partnering for food security, moving forward." Separately, Ministry of Agriculture officials had informed FAS MinCouns that they were pleased to know the USG position in advance of the FAO meeting. The Joint Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation (DAC) noted that the Secretary of State's approach was in line with GOI thinking on food security. There was no feedback or comment from the Ministry of Agriculture that India would make a financial or technical assistance pledge. Post anticipates that more will become clear at the FAO meeting in Rome. ROEMER