Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Amman, SANA- Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Mohamed Hassan Qatana met with his Tunisian counterpart, Abdel Moneim Belati, and the Director-General of the FAO, Qu Dongyu, on the sidelines of the 37th session of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Food and Agriculture Conference for the Near East and North Africa, held in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Minister Qatana presented a detailed explanation of the needs of the Syrian agricultural sector to achieve food security and confront the impact of climate change on it, and the necessity of increasing the necessary funding to rehabilitate agricultural infrastructure and resources damaged by terrorism.
Qatana pointed out that the visit of President Bashar al-Assad to the development village in China is considered an intellectual nucleus through which support from the FAO can be requested to transfer the Chinese experience to the targeted villages in Syria.
The administrative, organizational and legislative support is required for the management and development of villages and development in partnership with the local community, Qatana noted.
Qatana stated the need for FAO to assist Syria in addressing the challenges of marketing some good agricultural products with an international reputation and in strengthening agricultural and food manufacturing and sorting and packaging centers for export products.
In turn, the Director of the FAO welcomed the ideas presented and directed the regional office to provide all technical support projects to Syria due to the many crises it has experienced.
The Director expressed his hope that Syria will regain its role on the Arab and international arenas soon and his support for it within the initiatives of the FAO.
During Qatna’s meeting with the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Abdel Moneim Belati, the two ministers stressed the necessity of implementing scientific and technical cooperation agreements between the two countries and forming a joint technical group to review and develop them to keep pace with developments in agricultural policies.
Belati praised the historical agricultural relations between the two countries.
Belati stressed the availability of the political will to strengthen and renew cooperation in all fields, especially in the field of agricultural scientific research.
Nisreen Othman / Mazen Eyon
