Under the patronage of the Sudanese Minister of Animal Resources H.E Dr. Alam El-Din Abdullah Abbashar, the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) inaugurated the third and last meeting of the Arab Steering Committee of the Arab Program for Combating Transboundary Animal Diseases in the Arab Region which was organized by AOAD at its’ headquarter in Khartoum, Sudan during the 26th and the 27th of November 2019.

The Director General of AOAD, H.E Prof. Ibrahim Adam El Dukheri, stressed the importance of preserving the livestock sector for its increasing role in achieving food security and in alleviating poverty in developing countries. He stressed AOAD’s keenness to continue providing support to the animal sector, especially in the field of combating transboundary animal diseases and its keenness to preserve the livestock in the Arab region and improve the food security situation and ensure the safety of animal food commodities.

 H.E Dr Abbashar praised the efforts of AOAD and its support in developing the livestock sector in Sudan, especially training the cadres working in the livestock sector and developing veterinary services & institutional capacities. He said that AOAD adopted programs and plans that contribute to addressing major issues affecting Arab food security, including combating transboundary diseases, in order to enhance livestock trade and preserve food safety by giving technical support and consulting. H.E Dr Abbashar demanded AOAD to provide more support to the livestock sector in Sudan to improve veterinary services, to contribute in decreasing the spread of transboundary diseases, especially because Sudan is a vast country and surrounded by seven Arab and African countries.

 The Resident Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Dr. Babagana Ahmadu, praised the efforts exerted by AOAD in preserving livestock and achieving food security in the Arab region. He expressed FAO's readiness to provide the necessary support in all areas of livestock, especially the control of transboundary diseases.

The third and last meeting of the Arab Steering Committee of the Arab Program for the Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases in the Arab Region is has great importance because it presents the achievements of the program during the last 3 years, and the report of the neutral committee to evaluate the program and present the document of the third phase of the program for the period (2021-2026), which aims to improve the efficiency of trade of live animals and their products in the Arab and African regions. The meeting was attended by H.E Dr. Abdul Redha Bahman, Mr. Zaid Al-Roudhan from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, H.E Dr. Mohammed Ghazi Yahya the Regional Director of the OIE Regional Office for the Middle East (OIE), Mr. Saad Rasheed the Representative of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Mr. Kouldjim Guiddio representative of the Sahel group, in addition to (12) experts from the livestock managers in the Arab countries that are members in the emergency program for transboundary diseases, namely: Jordan - Bahrain - Tunisia - Algeria - Saudi Arabia - Sudan - Oman - Iraq - Palestine - Qatar - Libya -Coomros and Yemen.