FAO: Baghdad Conf. addresses 3 strategic priorities

Local

5-02-2022, 23:19

INA - BAGHDAD

Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO has identified on Saturday, 3 strategic priorities for its conference to be held in Baghdad on February 7-8, with a participation of 30 countries, touching on its positive repercussions on Iraq.

"The conference is a political event in which policies and priorities are drawn up to meet the challenges surrounding the issues of agriculture and food in the Near East and North Africa region as the delegations will continue to attend tomorrow, and we expect a large presence at the ministerial level,” said the Assistant Director-General FAO, Abdul Hakim Rajab Al-Waer, to Al-Iraqiya News TV, followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

He added, "FAO provides services to the region via programs and projects. Through this conference, which is held every two years, represents a very important event that outlines the organization's relationship with member states, that are programmed in the form of projects and interventions to achieve the interests of members,”

"The strategic priorities that the conference will address include, first, the issue of food security, as one third of the region's population suffers from a lack of smooth access to food. It will also discuss the challenge of climate change, and thirdly, the issue of water scarcity, which leads and exacerbates many problems that affect food security,” he explained.

He pointed out that "the organization will ask, at the conference, the ministers present representing the participating countries to adopt policies to avoid the damages of these challenges,”

Regarding the positive repercussions of the conference on Iraq, Al-Waer noted "The initiative of the countries of the region, led by Iraq, in hosting such an event confirms their quest to deepen cooperation in the areas of water, security, food and climate change, as to find solutions to the challenges they face,”

In terms of the challenges that Iraq faces due to water scarcity, he stressed that "the countries of the region, including Iraq, suffer from the problem of water scarcity, and this file will be present at the conference. We know that the agricultural sector consumes 80% of the countries' water resources, and we encourage the use of modern technologies to help rationalize water consumption in Iraq and the affected countries,”