On the second day of his participation at the African Green Revolution Forum Summit, being held until 09 September 2022 in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Mr. Yerlan Baidaulet, Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), was received by Ministers of Agriculture of some Member States, and heads of relevant international organizations on quest of ensuring fruitful cooperation and partnerships for advancing the food security agenda within the IOFS Strategic Vision 2031. During all the consultations, the Director General was assisted by Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, Director of Program & Projects Office, and Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Senior Liaison Officer.
As for Member States, the Director General exchanged views with Their Excellencies Dr. Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture of The Gambia, Maj (Rtd) Bwino Fred Kyakulaga (MP), the Minister of State for Agriculture of the Republic of Uganda, and Mr. Olegário Banze, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Mozambique, on matters related with their respective national priorities with which the IOFS could intervene to support them in being food sufficient while developing their agricultural sector, as well as the proposal for the countries to host some events within the framework of celebrating 2022 “IOFS Year of Africa”, as it is the case of “International Agribusiness Forum”, scheduled to be held on 27 October 2022 in Maputo, Mozambique.
The Heads of relevant international organizations that counted in the very productive day of bilateral meetings included H.E. Mr. Alvaro Lario, the President-elect of UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), whom the Director General congratulated on the well-deserved election to that high post and assured of IOFS availability to be a helping hand in supporting common Member States. With H.E, Ambassador Gabriel Ferrero y de Loma – Osorio, the Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (the CFS), the discussions showed such similar synergies that the IOFS was formally invited to be Observer Member at the CFS. Finally, with Mr. Sean de Cleene, Head of Food System Initiative and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum, the Director General agreed to cooperate towards establishing “Food Innovation Hubs” in different regions of geography of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Additionally, at all the aforementioned bilateral meetings, the Director General extended a personal invitation for his interlocutors to attend the upcoming IOFS 5th General Assembly to be held on 10-11 October 2022 in Tunis, Republic of Tunisia, under the theme: “Partnerships for sustainable Food Security: Africa within OIC Geography”.
