The last day of the 8th Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development (MCFSAD) was dedicated for a Ministerial Session that had its opening ceremony addressed by His Excellency Zhenis Oserbay, Vice Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in his capacity of Chair of the 7th MCFSAD to transfer the chairmanship to His Excellency Dr. Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey, which was followed by statements of the OIC General Secretariat and Ministers from the participating Member States.
Meanwhile, His Excellency the Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), Mr. Yerlan A. Baidaulet, continued his series of bilateral meetings, including with His Excellency Mr. Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture of the Republic of Maldives, with whom the main issue under discussion was the possibility of his country joining the IOFS as a full-fledged Member State, an option that was promised to be carefully studied for necessary practical action in near future.
The remaining bilateral meetings were with heads of delegation of IOFS Member States as were the cases of Their Excellencies Mr. Gabriel Mbairobe, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Cameroon, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaei, Minister of Municipality, State of Qatar, and Mr. Marciano Silva Barbeiro, State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Guinea Bissau. The exchanges focused on how the IOFS would be supportive of Member States’ diverse initiatives in the field of food security and agriculture that are part of the IOFS Strategic Vision 2031, as well as the support of these countries in strengthening all the relevant structures of the IOFS towards consolidating its growth process.
Also one of this day’s meetings was with Mr.Vladimir Rakmanin, the Regional Director, FAO Budapest to discuss further collaboration between two organizations and identify areas of joint activities towards their member countries.
Finally, the IOFS delegation, which included Mr. Nursalim Suleimenov, Director of Cabinet, Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, Director of Programmes and Projects Office, and Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Senior Liaison Officer, attended the closing ceremony of the 8th MCFSAD that adopted Report of Senior Officials Meeting and the Resolutions in which the IOFS is entrusted to pursue its important work in all relevant areas that form part of the agenda of the Conference, such as OIC Programmes of Action (PoA) for development of strategic agricultural commodities (rice, wheat, and cassava) and Establishment of OIC Food Security Reserve. The IOFS was also requested to closely work with the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) on preparing the next Report on Food Security in OIC Member States and to be part of Coordination Mechanism of OIC Institutions Active in the Field of Food Security to be supervised by the OIC General Secretariat.
