Prime minister meets Iraq, Syria, Lebanon agriculture ministers 

AMMAN — Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh on Sunday met with the ministers of agriculture of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon who are participating in the quadripartite meeting that also includes Jordan.

The PM highlighted the importance of cooperation and integration among the four countries to enhance sustainable food security. 

Khasawneh also stressed the need to expand this cooperation and include more Arab countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In this regard, the prime minister stressed His Majesty King Abdullah's interest in increasing regional collaboration in the field of food security to make Jordan, in partnership with Arab countries, a regional centre for food security cooperation and integration.

He also noted that the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have affected the supply chains of basic commodities, which requires enhancing integration capabilities to cover the needs of these countries, realise agricultural integration and facilitate intra-trade in agriculture.

The ministers stressed the importance of this meeting in enhancing agricultural cooperation, providing solutions for food crises and supporting agricultural production, according to Petra.

They said that challenges imposed by global crises and surge in costs of shipping and exports, the drop of animal and plant production, and climate change are all good reasons to boost the principle of Arab and regional food security, Petra reported.