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Riyadh: The General Assembly of Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development (AOAD) has announced initiative for an emergency Arab programme for food security.
The programme is aimed at achieving an increased and stable food production in the Arab world, especially the production of food grains, oil seeds and sugar. The declaration urged all the parties concerned to lend a hand of cooperation and coordination in preparing the programme.
The proposed programme is set to support Arab countries, which are worst-hit by scarcity of food supplies and price rises.
Participants at the session stressed the need for preparing a comprehensive report about the requirements of the programme and mechanism for its implementation.
The declaration also called for intensifying efforts with the general secretariat of the Arab League to give top priority for the issue of Arab food security at the forthcoming Arab Economic Summit, scheduled to be held in Kuwait in mid-January 2009.
The session urged the public and private sectors as well as businessmen and industrialists in the Arab world to make investments in joint agricultural projects in those countries that would be chosen under the emergency programme. It called for holding a conference in this regard by the end of 2008.
"The Arab governments, which are hosting joint Arab agricultural projects, should grant facilities, concessions and guarantees to boost Arab investments in the field of food production. They also must expedite procedures for enacting legislations to support Arab agricultural integration and realise Arab free trade zones as part of strengthening bilateral Arab agricultural trade exchange," the declaration said.
It also discussed setting up of regional policy to reduce customs tariff taxes on wheat and other imports of food commodities, in addition to encouraging setting up of agricultural investment projects, establishing strategic stocks and fighting epidemic and cross-border diseases.
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