Damascus, (ST) – Prime Minister Hussein Arnous on Monday met with the delegation of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) which is visiting Syria to develop relations and activate the organization’s office in Damascus.
The delegation includes the Director General of the Organization Ibrahim Al-Dakhiri, and the CEO of the Organization, the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture Abbas Hajj Hassan.
The meeting focused on ways to enhance cooperation between Syria and the concerned Arab organizations to support the agricultural sector, both plant and animal, and joint work to confront climate changes and the low level of groundwater, and to develop the work of the Arab Technical Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries, secure its requirements and raise the level of education in it.
The meeting also dealt with expanding the role of the organization, through its participation in implementing agricultural development projects of all kinds, in addition to mobilizing Arab energies and capabilities to enhance Arab food security in the light of the difficult economic conditions that the global economy is going through.
The Prime Minister stressed the need to develop an action strategy for future cooperation to boost the agricultural sector and enhance agricultural development in a way that contributes to achieving food security.
Arnous pointed to the importance of integration and concerted efforts of the concerned government agencies in the Arab countries and Arab development organizations.
The Prime Minister stated that Syria was one of the first Arab countries that actively contributed to the establishment of organizations, syndicates, or federations that support joint Arab action and contribute to achieving development in all sectors.
He also pointed to the need for cooperation in the light of the conditions and climatic changes taking place in the region that require systematic plans to confront them and reduce their impact on agricultural production.
For his part, Al-Dakhiri stressed that the organization constitutes one of the pillars of joint Arab action in the agricultural field, and it is ready to cooperate with the Syrian side and establish joint projects in the field of agricultural and rural development and the maintenance of agricultural resources. He praised the cooperation provided by the Syrian government to the organization to help itcarry out its work.
Raghda Sawas