Heads of both IOFS and its subsidiary IFPA made presentations and discussed with the CEO of the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), H.E. Abdulla Al Awar at the DIEDC headquarters where other key stakeholders such as DinarStandard and Salaam Gateway were also present led by their management, Mr. Rafi-uddin Shikoh and his team. The parties discussed potential areas of collaboration including the use of Islamic finance and investments for Halal food as part of the vision of the leadership of Dubai to make it the global capital of Islamic economy. H.E. Yerlan Baidaulet and Sheikh Bilal Khan received from H.E. Abdulla Al Awar the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2020/21 which has become a global benchmark for the industry. The meeting was followed by an official signing ceremony of agreements for cooperation between the IOFS and Salaam Gateway represented respectively by H.E. Yerlan Baidaulet and Mr. Rafi-uddin Shikoh in the presence of H.E. Abdulla Al Awar. Thereafter another great meeting took place with the Group Chairman of Engro Corporation and Dawood Hercules Group, H.E. Hussain Dawood who is a leading Pakistani businessman, educationalist and philanthropist based in Dubai with huge portfolio of agri-food businesses and the focus was particularly on enlisting their experience of more than six decades for private-sector engagement through the platform of International IFPA. In addition, H.E. Yerlan Baidaulet and Sheikh Bilal Khan had a productive and enjoyable meeting with H.E. Essa Abdullah Al-Ghurair, the Chairman of Essa Al-Ghurair Investments where they discussed the involvement of such a seasoned international businessman with special reference to their trading and investments in agri-food businesses and the potential to link the markets of Kazakhstan/CIS with the Gulf and MENA region via the platform of International IFPA and boosting the IOFS's national/regional food security reserves and centres of excellence for strategic commodities.
H.E Yerlan Baidaulet and the delegation also had a good meeting with the Minister of Climate Change and Environment, H.E. Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi where many areas of serious collaboration were discussed for the entire range of programs of IOFS and indeed for IFPA as the Ministry has an enormous scope which spans various inter-related sectors of importance for IOFS such as environment, agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries to ensure food security and biosafety. The parties discussed sharing of know-how and best practices and working very closely for the benefit of both UAE and other IOFS Member States.
H.E. Yerlan Baidaulet and Sheikh Bilal Khan ended their heavy day's schedule with an extremely fruitful meeting with both the Chief Scientist of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Mrs Ismahane Elouafi and the Acting Director General of the UAE-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dr. Tarifa Al Zaabi where a number of initiatives were discussed in detail for close cooperation with both FAO and ICBA including in the field of STI and R&D for IOFS and linkages with value-added food processing stakeholders in the private-sector for International IFPA.
