The Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) held its 49th Session of the Executive Council on the 28th of March 2019 at Crown Plaza Hotel in Jedda, Saudi Arabia.

The 49th session was held under the kind invitation of H.E Engineer Abdulrahman bin Mohsen Al-Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture in Saudi Arabia.

The opening ceremony of the session was marked by a welcome speech by H.E Engineer Abdulrahman and the speech of the President of the Executive Council of AOAD, HE Dr. Sufian Sultan, the Palestinian Minister of Agriculture, and H.E Prof Ibrahim Adam El Dukheri, the Director-General of AOAD.

These speeches gathered on the importance of the session for the significant issues mentioned in its agenda, which aimed at pushing forward the joint Arab action in the field of agriculture and Arab food security.

The Council has studied in depth and carefully the topics in its agenda, which included the report of the Director General of AOAD that reflected AOAD achievements during the period between the two sessions of the Executive Council, as well as following the progress in reviewing the AOAD’s strategy and aligning it with the objectives of sustainable development2030, in addition to the implementation of the 2nd phase of the food security emergency program, and the implementation of the plan of support to the Arab countries in the implementation of the new global framework to neutralize land degradation 2030-2018, as well as the preparation of the first unified Arab report on the efforts of Arab countries in neutralizing land degradation.

The Council adopted a number of important decisions related to the topics discussed. The most important of these was the creation of the Arab Center for Entrepreneurship and a series of other decisions that will undoubtedly have a positive impact on bridging the Arab food gap and promoting joint Arab action in agriculture.