Aboul Gheit stresses the importance of finding innovative mechanisms to ensure water security and food security in the Arab region

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed the importance of the joint meeting of Arab Ministers of Water and Agriculture to define the new vision of the coordination mechanisms and the ways to institutionalize them between the agricultural and water sectors at the regional and national levels, with the aim of activating and sustaining them. And human rights while ensuring the environmental sustainability of the Arab region.

Abul-Gheit said in his speech delivered on his behalf by Ambassador Kamal Hassan Ali, Deputy Secretary-General for Economic Affairs to the Arab League, at the joint meeting of Arab water and water ministers. Agriculture held Thursday at the headquarters of the Arab League that water scarcity and land degradation are the main challenges of the Arab region Sustainable development as part of the global momentum for the implementation of the Plan of Action Action for sustainable development by 2030.

Aboul Gheit highlighted the decline in freshwater availability and land declines at a time when demand was increasing rapidly in recent decades due to rapid population growth, urban sprawl, climate change, and lifestyle and effects of climate change 14 countries in the region were characterized by water poverty.

He pointed out that the reduction in water resources limited the region's ability to produce more food and increase its dependence on grain imports and price fluctuations in international markets, which requires a new look and innovative mechanisms for development work and sustainable development in the water and agriculture sectors.

Aboul Gheit said that water scarcity and deterioration of arable land means that the cost of the food deficit weighs more and more heavily on the development efforts of several Arab countries, which requires dealing with security issues food and water as a complex system requiring the highest degree of coordination in formulating operational strategies and plans ranging from planning and financing to implementation. And evaluation.

He stressed that the main issues of food security and water sustainability, given the importance of the region's shared international waters as well as climate change and resulting migration, armed conflict and the continuation of occupation, are regional challenges that require regional solutions, taking into account the particularities of the development of each country.

He emphasized the need for partnerships in the areas of scientific research, planning, investment, finance, implementation and monitoring, and welcomed the theme "Innovation in Policy". and investment, "central theme of the dialogue sessions of the Arab Ministers of Agriculture and Water. In Cairo, this week and in advance of the joint meeting, which took place 30 working sessions, was dedicated to the challenges of water and agriculture in the Arab region and to innovative financing mechanisms in this area. respect.