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FAO Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa – Ministerial Session   

FAO to launch the Ministerial Session of the Regional Conference on 7 February 09:00 (Baghdad time, UTC+3)  

 

Healthy diets for a growing, increasingly urban population in the presence of water scarcity and advancing climate change necessitate urgent changes and transformations in the agrifood systems of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.  

  

In this light, the thirty-sixth session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Conference for the Near East (NERC 36) is being held this year under the theme "Recover and Restart: Innovations for better, greener and more resilient agrifood Systems to achieve the sustainable development goals”.  

  

NERC 36 will be hosted by Iraq. The Ministerial Session will take place in hybrid modality during 7-8 February 2022.   

  

During the conference, ministers of agriculture, partner organizations, sister agencies, and senior officials of member countries will meet to elaborate on regional challenges and priorities related to this topic in the Near East and North Africa region. This will ensure the effectiveness of FAO’s impact in the region and will help in defining its work priorities for the next biennium.  

  

These priorities will be determined through engaging ministerial roundtables with all member countries to identify best practices to transform agrifood systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  

  

The opening session of #NERC36 will include remarks by:  

  •  QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General  
  • The  Ambassador Hans Hoogeveen, the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN Organizations in Rome and the Independent Chairperson of the FAO Council   
  • H.E Muhammad Karim Al-Khafaji,  the Minister of Agriculture in Iraq and the Chairperson of the 36th Session of the Regional Conference for the Near East (#NERC36) 
  • Gabriel Ferrero, Ambassador at Large for Global Food Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Spain and the Chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)  
  • Razan Zuayter  President of the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) and Founder of the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty (ANFS)  and the Spokesperson of the Civil Society Organizations  
  • Ayman Amin Sejiny, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector ) at the Islamic Development Bank and the Spokesperson of the Private Sector  
  • H.E Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Prime Minister of Iraq (TBC) 

N.B. All statements will be added to #NERC36 website on 7 February as soon as delivered.  

This high-level session of #NERC36 will  also be hosting a series of ministerial roundtables on the following issues:   

  

  • Food security and healthy diets for all for better nutrition and a better life.   
  • Building resilient rural communities for better production, a better environment and a better life.  
  • Green recovery and climate action for better production and a better environment.   

For more details on the conference programme, please click here 

Media welcome  

  

All media are welcomed to attend the conference either on-ground or virtually and have the opportunity to cover/attend the roundtable and panel discussions of #NERC36. For the media that would like to attend the conference on-ground, please send an email to [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] to confirm your attendance.   

  

Media representatives that would like to follow the proceedings of the conference virtually, please send your confirmation of attendance to [log in to unmask]. As soon as you send the confirmation, a Zoom link will be sent for registration, 

  

All conference documents are available online at the #NERC36 Website.   

  

RESOURCES FOR THE MEDIA:

Twitter: @FAOinNENA_EN and @FAOinNENA   

#NERC documents:  https://www.fao.org/about/meetings/regional-conferences/nerc36/documents/en/   

  

CONTACT  

Mariam Hamed Hassanien    

Regional Media Relations Specialist

(+2) 0100 733 5492   

  


FAO | Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa  

11, AL Islah El Zerai, Dokki-Cairo, Cairo, Egypt | (+2) 02 333 16000 | www.fao.org/neareast