HYDERABAD (Sify) - The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has mooted a tripartite agreement between India, China and the organization to expand the scope of its existing program of South-South cooperation to eradicate hunger in the world within the next 10 years.

Delivering the 2006 Coromandel Lecture on the occasion of the 93rd Indian Science Congress on ‘Asian science and agricultural development: Challenge and opportunity in Africa and the developing countries’ here, Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General of FAO, said the tripartite campaign would be supported by donor countries.

"It is not simply a dream. It is a possible, feasible and operational objective if we have the vision and the will to do what it takes," he said.

He called on the scientists attending the ISC to share their skills and energies with developing nations to make the partnership a meaningful one.

Talks would be held with OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to contribute to the program. Preliminary talks were on. The idea was to help the poor countries in Africa and Asia by using the models developed in India and China in the areas of dry land farming, management of land and water resources, marketing initiatives to increase the incomes of the poor.