Minister of Agriculture: The agricultural sector is key to Arab integration

On June 5^th, the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Muhammad Hassan Qatana, met with the Minister of Agriculture in the Lebanese caretaker government, Dr. Abbas Hajj Hassan.

During the meeting in Beirut, the two sides discussed ways to unify the procedures of Arab countries and their agricultural policies to preserve their food security.

The two sides focused on the issue of unifying border procedures, easing customs duties, and solving problems facing the exchange of foodstuffs to reach the goal of preserving Arab food security.

Minister Qatana stressed that it is not possible to achieve the food security of the Arab countries unless they unite and cooperate, pointing to the importance of the four-party meeting between the ministers of agriculture in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan and its results represented by the signing of a memorandum of understanding that established the executive frameworks for trade exchange between the four countries.

Minister Qatana pointed out that the agreement laid the foundations for the development of this agreement to later involve more countries, announcing a close quartet meeting in Syria or Lebanon, with the aim of including some transport ministers in the agreement to set conditions for transportation and transit and overcome obstacles that could limit exchange of products between the four countries.

In turn, the Lebanese minister spoke about the expansion of the quartet meetings to include other countries, stressing that the partnership that brings together the two countries, Syria and Lebanon at the level of the agricultural sector, constitutes the beginning of similar relations with all Arab countries.

al-Mohammad