AMMAN —
The agriculture ministers of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria on Monday backed
Jordan’s bid to host a regional
Food Security Observatory to draw up policies
and offer urgent solutions to various food security issues, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported.
اضافة اعلان
In a final
statement, the four-way meeting supported a World Food Program proposal to carry
out a study on setting up the regional center for food security in Jordan to
enhance services and raise the capacity to respond to crises in the region.
Minister of
Agriculture
Khaled Al-Hneifat told a press conference that the meeting was also
unanimous on raising the level of food security, and enhancing integration
among the regional states. He said this comes amid global changes and
predictions of increased demand on food and rising prices as food-producing and
importing countries move to increase their strategic stocks.
The minister also
stressed the participating countries’ resolve to enhance trade exchange,
facilitate the flow of agricultural commodities between them, and lay down a
solid framework for developing technical cooperation in the plant and animal
sectors, agricultural extension, exchange of expertise, and building capacities
in the sector.
The ministers
welcomed proposals to set up partnerships for marketing produce, support the
Jordanian-Palestinian Company for Marketing Agricultural Products, develop
contracts, move to non-traditional crops, and cooperate to draw up an
agricultural calendar on production quantities and dates to serve agricultural
integration between the four countries.
They agreed to
facilitate trade, develop infrastructure, encourage investment and create an
environment to raise production and food industry efficiency, and coordinate
closely to address the challenges of climate change, scarce water resources and
epidemics.
The ministers
agreed to unify procedures for registering fertilizers, pesticides, medicines,
veterinary vaccines, improved seeds, and plant and animal production inputs.
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