President to inaugurate 5th FAO confab
 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will inaugurate the 5th FAO Ministerial Meeting on Aquaculture for the Asia Pacific Region today at the Colombo Hilton. This ministerial meeting on aquaculture will be held from July 28 to 29 in Colombo and over 250 representatives from 18 countries, including 14 fisheries ministers, will participate in this summit.

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said that this is the first time such a meeting of FAO with the participation of a large number of ministers is being held in Sri Lanka.

Dr Senaratne said that the meeting is being held to make a political commitment about future development of aquaculture in the region, coordinating regional activities, improvement of regional cooperation in aquaculture, development of aquaculture for food security and raising the nutritional level of the people in the region.

The minister said that the conference will help to get regional assistance and cooperation to increase Sri Lanka’s fish production from 52,000 metric tons to 90,000 metric tons by 2013.