On the sidelines of his participation in the International Conference on Food Security in Samarkand on September 6-7, 2023, the ECO Secretary General H.E. Ambassador Khusrav Noziri met with Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) HE Mr Qu Dongyu.
Summarizing the ECO-FAO collaboration since the MoU signed in 1997 between the two organizations, Ambassador Noziri, commended FAO’s continuous support to ECO activities, particularly their assistance in establishments of the ECO Regional Coordination Center for Food Security, ECO Seed Association, ECO Veterinary Commission and ECO Center of Excellence for Efficient Water Utilization for Agriculture. He underlined that, representing a region of over half a billion population that is mostly based on agrarian economy, the ECO looks forward to FAO’s assistance in ensuring food security in the region. Also reminding that the UN General Assembly on 25 august 2023 adopted by consensus the resolution titled “Cooperation between UN and ECO”, Ambassador Noziri requested continuation of collaboration at the highest possible manners. He also informed Mr. Ou Dongyu that İran will host the 8th Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture of ECO and based on the invitation of host country, ECO would be honored to see their participation in this high level dialogue platform.
Director General Mr. Dongyu emphasized the importance of regional economic cooperation organizations in collective development efforts, as well as ECO’s unique geographical position on the Silk Road. He identified desertification and effective usage of water resources in the region as critical issues, and stressed on the urgent need for stronger joint actions to address those problems. He proposed that the two parties develop value adding, inclusive, simple, focused and complete projects which are professionally designed with bottom to up approach.
