THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, represented FAO at the 8th Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development on 25–27 October 2021 in Istanbul.
FAO has reiterated its support for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the area of food security at the 8th Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development, held on 25–27 October 2021 in Istanbul. Hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey, the Conference was attended by Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the OIC member countries as well as senior officials. FAO took part in the conference with a high-level delegation composed of Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, Viorel Gutu, Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative in Turkey, and Ayşegül Selışık, FAO Assistant Representative in Turkey. The FAO delegation made substantive contributions throughout the event.
In his statement at the Ministers’ Conference, Vladimir Rakhmanin underscored the importance of improving cooperation between FAO and the OIC. Reminding participants of constraints in the fields of agriculture and food in OIC member countries, Rakhmanin reiterated that cooperation and joint actions between FAO and the OIC would represent a significant asset in the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, with a view to achieving better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.
Within the margins of the event, a bilateral meeting took place between Rakhmanin and Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey. The meeting confirmed both parties’ willingness to continue joint efforts and to further strengthen existing cooperation. After the bilateral meeting, Rakhmanin and Pakdemirli signed a South-South and Triangular Cooperation agreement for the deployment of Turkish experts to projects sites in Central Asia as part of the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes for food, agriculture and forestry. The event also provided an opportunity to have meetings with high-level officials from other OIC member countries.
Viorel Gutu delivered a speech at a side event entitled “Sharing Experiences and Knowledge for the Improvement of Food Systems in the OIC Region: Towards the Achievement of the SDGs by 2030”. He explained that the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes contribute to the improvement of regional cooperation for food security in the beneficiary countries and countries of interest. Gutu also underlined the main findings of the FAO’s flagship report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021, and urged OIC countries to take the necessary steps for the sake of food security.
The conference also provided a valuable opportunity to showcase the fruitful cooperation between FAO and Turkey under the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes (FTPP and FTFP) funded by the Government of the Republic of Turkey. A stand for FAO-Turkey Partnership was open at the conference venue throughout the whole programme, displaying information and a variety of promotional materials from projects implemented under the Partnership. Ministers from OIC Member Countries, including Bekir Pakdemirli, visited the stand.
