H.E. Professor Iqbal Choudhary noted the commendable leadership of IOFS in the programs initiated for food security with OIC countries and its active engagement in Africa. He also emphasized that COMSTECH is fully committed to enhance cooperation with IOFS, particularly in capacity building of research in targeted areas of agriculture and workshops on food security governance.
Both sides highlighted the importance of the joint activities conducted, including the Youth Forum on Biotechnology held from 13-15 September 2022. Moreover, ongoing projects and activities were discussed, such as the Fellowship Program for Research and Training in Food Security of IOFS-COMSTECH. The purpose of the fellowship is to provide opportunities to OIC researchers to perform short/medium term research work or acquire trainings in specialized techniques in Agri-Tech and systematic understanding of Food Security Governance at the relevant advanced research centers in OIC countries.
The upcoming Expert Meeting, “Climate Resilient Wheat Crop Improvement for Food Security”, organized by IOFS-COMSTECH-PARC, to take place from 23-25 November 2022 in Islamabad, Pakistan was also highlighted in the joint agenda of IOFS and COMSTECH. The meeting is planned to be attended by participants from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkiye, and Tunisia, and international organizations such as ICARDA, CIMMYT, ICBA, KAUST, ACSAD, AOAD, CILLS.
In addition, COMSTECH was invited take part in the initiation of the IOFS Conference on the Implementation of the Afghanistan Food Security Programme (AFSP) to be held in an online format on 14 November 2022.
H.E Director General Yerlan Baidaulet and H.E. Professor Iqbal Choudhary highlighted the importance and relevance of food security given the current realities and agreed to strengthen and magnify cooperation of the two institutions.
