Agriculture ministers from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq affirmed the "necessity of forming a working group to create partnerships among the Ministries of Agriculture in the four countries with international organizations to establish joint regional projects to address climate change, achieve food security, and create a platform for exchanging statistical data, facilitating the flow of agricultural goods, and addressing the challenges facing transit."
The ministers emphasized in the final statement issued from the two-day quadripartite meeting held in Damascus, the "importance of finding a formula for cooperation, coordination, and integration in agricultural fields and related services to achieve the best levels of coordination in agriculture and food among the four countries."
They noted that "the establishment of the platform would contribute to exchanging agricultural statistical data that helps determine the quantities of products and production requirements available for trade within the agreed agricultural calendar, as well as the legislations, plans, and agricultural programs in the four countries, in addition to the regulatory frameworks for the registration and trading of pesticides, fertilizers, veterinary medicines, and the quality standards for agricultural products in each country, and the lists of the agricultural calendar among the participating countries to reach an agreed agricultural calendar that preserves the rights of producers in each country."
The ministers also confirmed the "development of agricultural product exchange by establishing private sector marketing companies specialized in marketing agricultural products, activating contract farming among the four countries, and working on harmonizing plant and animal health regulations to facilitate trade exchange and unify the bases and mechanisms for issuing plant and veterinary health certificates, and working on adopting a common list of a group of test laboratories nominated by these countries to be recognized at the level of the four countries, facilitating the process of exchanging agricultural and food products."
They agreed to "form a joint technical coordination committee to follow up on what has been agreed upon, discuss any obstacles, propose suitable solutions, and convert the items of the quadripartite memorandum of understanding signed today into executable, consensual actions on the ground."
