Sabbagh to the Ministers of Agriculture in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon: Intensifying joint action to achieve supreme Arab interest

The People’s Assembly (Parliament) Speaker Hamouda Sabbagh met today with the Ministers of Agriculture in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, Khaled Al-Hanifat, Abbas Al-Alaywi and Abbas Al-Haj Hassan, who are participating in the fourth meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture, which started in Damascus today. 

During the meeting, Sabbagh stressed the need to intensify joint Arab parliamentary and governmental action between Syria and its neighboring Arab countries, to achieve the higher Arab interest. 

Sabbagh noted the position of the brothers in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon who came to the aid of the Syrian people during the catastrophe of the devastating earthquake that struck Syria recently. 

Sabbagh pointed to the importance of the role of Arab parliaments in unifying agricultural legislation and giving it special importance, in a way that contributes to achieving food security and self-sufficiency for all Arab countries. 

The Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Muhammad Hassan Qatana, stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation and unifying agricultural policies between Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, supporting these policies by international organizations, and achieving similarity in standard specifications between these countries. 

The Iraqi Minister of Agriculture referred to the climatic challenges that target the countries of the region, and the need to overcome the difficulties to face these challenges by strengthening joint Arab action. 

For his part, the Jordanian Minister of Agriculture stressed the importance of achieving a flow of goods and products among the four Arab countries participating in today’s meeting in Damascus, and manufacturing important production requirements in the agricultural sector for each country. 

In turn, the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture affirmed that Arab relations are witnessing remarkable growth over the days, and there is an Arab rush towards Syria, and inter-Arab relations must be strengthened and developed in all fields and Arab integration must be achieved, especially in the field of agriculture and trade exchange. 

The meeting was attended by the Vice Speaker Muhammad Akram Al-Ajlani, the Chairman and members of the Parliament’s Agriculture and Water Resources Committee, and a number of MP’s. 

O. al-Mohammad