Al-Qusayr, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, met with Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on the sidelines of the COP 27 Climate Summit currently being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, and discussed with her mechanisms for implementing the FAST Sustainable Transformation Initiative.
During the meeting, Al-Qusair praised the role of FAO during the preparation of the climate summit, as well as the cooperation in preparing and launching the Sustainable Transformation Initiative (FAST), and said that there are also historical relations and great cooperation with FAO in many joint agricultural projects with the Ministry of Agriculture.
It is proposed to hold a coordination meeting with FAO after the end of the climate summit to adopt a plan and develop a mechanism to implement the initiatives agreed upon during the summit, especially the Sustainable Transformation Initiative (FAST) as well as the Green Middle East initiative launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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The Minister of Agriculture added that there is permanent support from the Egyptian political leadership to the African brothers, pointing out that the Egyptian initiative will be an umbrella for many projects in the field of agriculture and food security for many countries in the region.
For its part, Semedo expressed her happiness at being in Egypt and participating in the Climate Summit, thanking the Egyptian government and leadership for this wonderful organization of the summit.
She pointed out that the agriculture sector is for the first time being given attention in climate conferences, and this counts for the Egyptian government. She said that the FAST initiative launched by the Minister of Agriculture yesterday is the result of effort and cooperation between the organization and the ministry, and that full support will be provided to it, and that it agrees with everything that the Minister of Agriculture proposed during Meeting.
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The two sides agreed to form a joint technical committee from the Ministry and FAO to follow up on the implementation of what was agreed upon, as well as the outcomes of the Climate Summit.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Nasr El-Din Haj El-Amin, FAO representative in Egypt, Dr. Saad Moussa, the supervisor of foreign agricultural relations, and some leaders of the ministry and the international organization.
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Rewriting & Editing:
Shaima Al Sukari