Ministers of Agriculture of Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon briefed on fields of work of ACSAD research center

The Ministers of Agriculture of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan paid a visit today to the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands ACSAD in the countryside of Damascus.

During the visit, the ministers listened to comprehensive presentations by the director of the center and its experts on ACSAD and its fields of work, the history of its cooperation with the four countries, the projects it is implementing, success stories in the field of plant production, livestock development, desertification control, water harvesting, water resources management, development of new varieties of grains, and the results ACSAD has achieved so far by increasing production and productivity in the Arab region, which contributes to achieving Arab food security.

In a statement to reporters, Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Muhammad Hassan Qatana explained that the aim of visiting the center was to take a look at the results of the research and studies the Centre is conducting, which are concerned with achieving food security and addressing all the problems that agriculture suffers from in the Arab world.

Qatana pointed out that the rehabilitation of infrastructure and projects destroyed by the terrorist war requires cooperation and integration at the regional level, noting that the meeting of the four countries aims at achieving integration in policies, procedures, research and expertise.

The Iraqi Minister of Agriculture, Eng. Abbas Al-Olayawi, praised the continuous cooperation of ACSAD in the agricultural sector in light of the great climatic challenges that the region suffers from, pointing out that food security is one of the challenges and a priority for Arab governments, and that the agricultural sector can only be advanced to faced these challenges through cooperation, pointing out in this regard to the importance of the agreement signed between the four countries towards the achievement of Arab integration as a basic building block for building a major economic project in the region.

In turn, the Jordanian Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hunaifat, pointed to the great role that ACSAD is implementing in Jordan in finding solutions to the challenges related to climate change, pointing to the importance of benefiting from the projects implemented by the center in the Arab countries, and from its expertise that helps in finding solutions to the challenges related to the agricultural sector.

For his part, the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, explained that the presence of the ACSAD center in Syria has a central role in converging views and stimulating agricultural work in the region, pointing out that the center is a key partner in activating inter-Arab action by stimulating agricultural work in all regions.

Director General of ACSAD, Dr. Nasr El-Din Al-Obeid, stated that the visit aims to benefit from the research projects carried out by the center in terms of developing varieties and strains of grains to increase productivity in the Arab region, as the center owns more than 87 varieties of durum and soft wheat, barley and corn which are suitable for the region.

At the end of the visit, the ministers were briefed on the center’s laboratories, biotechnologies, and the stages of date palm tissue cultivation.