Rome, SANA – Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Eng. Ahmad al-Qadiri discussed with officials of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the possibilities of developing cooperation in the implementation of sustainable development projects in the fields of livestock and rehabilitation of veterinary services.

The meeting with FAO Assistant Director-General for Technical Cooperation Department Laurent Thomas and FAO Director of Emergency and Rehabilitation Division Dominique Burgeon came on the sidelines of the 40th session of FAO that is held in the Italian capital of Rome.

During the meeting, al-Qadiri affirmed the importance of sustainable management of natural resources in Syria, especially the irrigation networks and forest resources, which have been severely damaged by terrorism.

The minister called for increasing the support for income-generating projects, especially in rural areas, and taking advantage of renewable energies such as biogas and solar energy.

In turn, Thomas and Burgeon stressed the importance of the proposed projects and promised to study the possibility of considering them in the organization’s work plans.

The 40th FAO session was launched on July 3 in Italy and will continue until July 8th with the participation of 196 countries and 100 governmental and non-governmental organizations to study the state of agriculture and food security in light of climate change, water scarcity and to discuss the measures needed to be taken to address these challenges.

M.al-Frieh/H. Said