ACSAD, Tunisia Sign Scientific Technical Cooperation Agreements
TUNISIA, (ST) – The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Areas (ACSAD) and the Bureau of Livestock and Pastures affiliated to the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture recently signed in Tunisia an agreement to promote scientific and technical cooperation between the two sides.
The agreement aims to make optimal use of modern technologies in the development of livestock, forage and pastoral resources and the development of the technical staff working in these areas.
The Director General of ACSAD Dr. Rafiq Saleh said that the Arab-Arab cooperation is a necessity imposed by the facts of history and geography and the requirements of the present and the future, pointing out that ACSAD has accumulated through its applied scientific career a lot of expertise and modern technologies in the areas of livestock and manufacture of fodder with a high nutritional value.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries in Tunisia Saadal –Siddik noted the role being played by ACSAD in the domain of spreading the modern applied scientific technologies in the various agricultural fields in the Arab countries.
He pointed to the outcome of the joint cooperation agreement signed between the two sides in 2013 and the relations of cooperation with ACSAD.
Arid ِِِAreas Institute in Meden in, Tunisia and ACSAD also signed a framework agreement to promote scientific and technical cooperation in the fields of combating desertification and integrated management of water resources, the use of non-conventional water in agricultural irrigation, the development of pastures, improving sheep and camels productivity and equipping the institute with some laboratories.
The agreement provided on the implementation of courses and training workshops at the national and regional levels for the rehabilitation and upgrading of scientific competence for Tunisian technicians in all the areas mentioned.
The period of the two agreements were identified for five years automatically renewable by mutual consent.
ACSAD, which was founded in 1968 in the city of Damascus, is a specialized Arab organization that aims to unite efforts for the development of agricultural research in the arid and semi arid areas.
Sharif al -Khatib