Amman: Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh held discussions with QU Dongyu, Director-General of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), alongside agricultural ministers from various nations participating in the 37th session of the FAO Regional Conference for the Near East.
In the meeting, Khasawneh welcomed the esteemed delegates to Jordan, highlighting the significant importance of the conference as a platform for fostering cooperation, exchanging best practices, and collectively devising solutions to the agricultural challenges that nations face, with the ultimate goal of ensuring food security.
Khasawneh also took a moment to commend the relentless efforts of His Majesty King Abdullah II in advocating for an immediate cessation of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
He reiterated Jordan’s unwavering stance, advocating for the protection of civilians, unimpeded access to humanitarian aid, and the imperative of a political resolution that safeguards peace through the two-sta
te solution.
Director-General Dongyu, in his remarks, lauded Jordan’s hospitality in hosting the pivotal conference and applauded the Kingdom’s steadfast dedication to advancing agricultural practices and bolstering food security.
He emphasized the conference’s significance as an invaluable opportunity for knowledge exchange and collaborative efforts towards achieving these critical objectives.
Dongyu acknowledged the global and regional attention drawn to the challenges faced by Gaza, Sudan, and numerous other nations, expressing particular empathy for the plight of Gaza’s residents.
He expressed optimism for a resolution to the crisis, highlighting the FAO’s ongoing collaborative efforts with relevant organizations to mitigate the humanitarian suffering endured by Gaza’s populace.
He expressed confidence that the discussions at the conference would yield tangible solutions to confront the multifaceted challenges confronting nations and communities worldwide, further emphasizing the pivotal role of inte
rnational cooperation in addressing these pressing issues.
Agriculture Minister Khaled Hanifat announced that Jordan has been designated as the host for the Regional Observatory for Food Security for the Levant region. This observatory aims to supply analytical data, predictive reports, basic forecasts, and alerts concerning critical indicators such as food security.
Hanifat elaborated that this move aligns with the conference’s goal of hastening the shift towards more efficient, climate-resilient agricultural food systems. He credited the FAO Regional Office for introducing an initiative to foster this transformation by establishing the observatory.
“This initiative is a direct response to the guidance of His Majesty King Abdullah II, supported by the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and builds on discussions among Levant countries’ ministers during their meeting in Amman last year,” Hanifat added.
The Regional Food Security Observatory is envisioned as a dynamic, analytical tool, offering insights, repo
rts, forecasts, and alerts on essential metrics such as food security, nutrition, production, consumption, trade, stocks, reserves, and sustainability.
Hanifat explained that the observatory would aid policymakers and strategists in the region to reformulate policies and strategies to address food security challenges. These reforms will be informed by global trends in production and transportation costs, food availability, and prices.
He noted that the observatory would incorporate data from the FAO, advanced econometric models, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.
The observatory, as Hanifat confirmed, will feature a primary information dashboard for the Levant region, a map of food trade for the Near East and North Africa, and country-specific panels tailored to each nation’s unique challenges and needs, including a panel for Jordan.
He highlighted the ongoing development efforts to refine the observatory’s data accuracy and model precision. Hanifat underscored the F
AO’s analytical support through the observatory’s establishment, in collaboration with the Regional Academy for Leadership Development and various regional and national food security and nutrition observatories.
Source: Jordan News Agency