Narendra Singh Tomar Addresses ‘Millet Luncheon Summit’ in New Delhi

High commissioners and ambassadors from over 60 countries appointed to India were treated to a special "Millet Luncheon" by the Ministries of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and External Affairs on Thursday. The vision for a successful IYOM 2023 celebration was expressed by Dr S. Jaishankar, the Minister of External Affairs, and Narendra Singh Tomar, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

To highlight the diversity of Indian millets and the variety of millet cuisines, an elaborately designed millet spread was served for lunch at the mega event.

MoA&FW and MEA co-hosted the summit on November 24, at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan in New Delhi as a pre-launch to India's year-long grand celebration of the "International Year of Millets (IYOM) 2023." Around 60 high commissioners and ambassadors to India were present at the official luncheon held on Thursday.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) accepted the proposal from the Government of India and declared 2023 the International Year of Millets with the goals of raising public awareness, increasing production and productivity, and strengthening the millet value-chain toward increased millet consumption (IYOM).

According to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government of India is leading the charge to celebrate IYOM 2023 at a magnificent level by making it a "People's Movement."

The Secretary, DA&FW, gave the introductory speech at the event and reemphasized the importance of the International Year of Millets to India. He also spoke about how nations may work together to celebrate it and bring millets back onto everyone's plates. Manoj Ahuja stressed the advantages of millets for the environment, economy, and health.

Tomar stated that the International Year of Millets will offer a special opportunity to boost global production, guarantee adequate processing and consumption, encourage better crop rotation use, and foster better connectivity throughout food systems to promote millets as a significant part of the world's food supply.

Whereas, Dr Jaishankar in his address called for a concerted international campaign to promote millets in order to address the problem of global food security.

Millets can play a critical role in resolving the joint worldwide concern for food & nutritional security that has been raised by the COVID-19 and numerous geopolitical crises in various regions of the world, he added.

Dr Jaishankar asked the ambassadors present at the ceremony to work together and support in increasing the impact of IYOM 2023, internationally, as the Government of India and the Indian Embassies abroad take the lead in commemorating the IYOM 2023.

Further, an elaborately arranged millet buffet was offered for lunch in order to illustrate the diversity of Indian millets and the range of millet cuisines. Along with the formal dialogue and culinary exploration of millet, over 35 Indian start-ups based on millet participated in an exposition at the event location to display a variety of food products, including ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook millet foods.