On 13 October 2022, His Excellency Mr. Yerlan Baidaulet, Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), was received by His Excellency Mr. QU Dongyu, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), at the latter’s Office in Rome to exchange views on how to strengthen bilateral cooperation between these two multilateral inter-governmental Organizations working for ensuring food security, sustainable agriculture, and rural development. During the meeting, the two sides agreed to furthering consultations on implementing relevant on-ground projects at the common Member States.
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Separately and upon the kind invitation of His Excellency Ambassador Gabriel Ferrero y de Loma – Osorio, Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the IOFS Director General had the opportunity to address the Special Session on Food Systems Transformations Toward Long-Term Resilience to Global Crises at the 50th CFS Session that closed today, 13 October 2022, in Rome. In his address, the Director General emphasized, inter alia, that the IOFS was addressing the challenges of current crises affecting food systems through implementation of 16 programmes within the five pillars of the IOFS 2031 Strategic Vision as follows:
- Governance Enablement.
- Food Crisis Response.
- Capacity building.
- Industry development.
- Resource Mobilization.
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Finally, he mentioned that the IOFS was ready to welcome result-oriented partnerships within the aforementioned pillars so as to ensure that Member States are the beneficiaries of the global cooperation on food systems.
The CFS Chairperson while acknowledging the relevance of the IOFS framework in addressing the matters under discussion, assured that all necessary procedures would be put in place to assure that the Organization is granted the Observer status at his Committee. Once such status is granted, the IOFS would be part of United Nations’ foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform in which all stakeholders work together to ensure food security and nutrition for all. In fact, the CFS reports to the UN General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and to FAO Conference.
Additionally, the Director General, assisted by Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Senior Liaison Officer, met with Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, FAO Chief Scientist, with whom views exchanged on potential partnership in the field of science and technology in relation to food security and agricultural development. The consultations are to continue towards agreeing the best mechanism for a sustainable IOFS-FAO cooperation in near future.
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