The 4th Session of the Executive Board of the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS) was held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan with the participation of all eight (8) members of the Board representing Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, UAE, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Gambia, and Director General of IOFS.
The matrix of the approved projects consists of the following programmes:
- Forum on Development of Strategic Commodities (Wheat, Rice, Cassava, and Palm Oil)
- Grain Fund
- Islamic Food Processing Association
- Workshop on Development of National Gene Banks
- Workshop on Increasing Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture Sector
- Workshop on Cooperation among National Food Safety Authorities
- Food Security Reserve
The meeting, which was chaired by His Excellency Mr. Abdulaziz A. Alhowaish (Saudi Arabia), also reviewed the administrative issues, database platform as well as visions of strengthening the Reverse Linkage Partnership programmes.
IOFS is currently test-running its website and database platform that will enable increased efficiency of operations of Secretariat and provide member states with up-to-date data on a wide range of food-related information.
After the meeting, the Board members paid a working visit to NASEC, where they were briefed on various activities of the Center, including its educational and research programmes in the domain of agriculture, rural development and food security. The Board Members were delighted to note that NASEC has an existing cooperation framework with many IOFS and OIC member states, thereby positioning itself as a very suitable Centre of Excellence for IOFS Action Plans for strategic cooperation in the development of areas of wheat and barley, livestock and forestry, among others.
The Board expressed their appreciation to the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, His Excellency Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev for his initiative of establishment of IOFS. Similarly, Board Members expressed their gratitude to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, His Excellency Mr. Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and the Government of Kazakhstan for the warm reception and fraternal hospitality extended to the members of the Executive Board during their stay in Kazakhstan.
