The Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) conducts a First day of an International Training webinar “Acquisition, Conservation, Exchange, and Safety Duplication of Plant Genetic Resources in OIC Member Countries – AFRICA Chapter” on August 10, 2021 in partnership with the Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the OIC (COMSTECH) and Bio-resources Conservation Institute (BCI) of Pakistan Agricultural Research Centre (PARC). To recall, the same training was held for Asian countries on July 13-14, 2021 by the aforementioned Institutes. In the speech, the IOFS Director-General H.E. Yerlan A. Baidaulet emphasized the importance of establishing strong collaboration with institutions, specialists, and scientists to collectively work on efficient conservation of plant genetic resources in the face of drought, climate change, and progressive erosion of traditional agricultural varieties, which will be critical for Africa's future food security. H.E. Mr Prof. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Coordinator General of COMSTECH has also highlighted the value of joint events with IOFS held for OIC MC, especially on promotion of agriculture and food security, as well as expanding this partnership with more activities.

The PGR experts from Uganda, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Mozambique, Cameroon, and Chad have attended the training. Dr Ismail Abdel Hamid, the Director of Programs and Projects of IOFS has moderated the first day of training together with COMSTECH and discussed with participants on further collaboration with OIC MC in this field.

The substantial experience and knowledge of the genebanks and research institutions from Pakistan, Tunisia, and Turkey were presented during the training. The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture shared on the practices of Conservation and Utilization of PGR, as well as demonstrated the ICBA Gene Bank activities.

The Second Day of training will be continued on 11 August 2021 on important issues of Genebank establishment and utilization of plant genetic resources.