Tunis/Tunisia — Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries Abdel Monêm Belâati urged that efforts should be focused on agricultural research programmes, and that solutions should be found to mitigate the impact of climate change on the productive sector while ensuring adaptation to the situation.

At the opening Wednesday of the International Conference on Food Security in the Arab Countries during and after Crises, he recommended boosting joint cooperation to invest in technology, making the best use of natural resources and moving towards the mobilisation of conventional water resources to meet the needs of various sectors, through investment in treated water, the desalination of sea water and the adoption of an integrated approach including water, energy and food.

Belâati pointed out that food security is one of the most important issues for researchers and economists at a time of multiple challenges, such as climate change, according to data published on Thursday by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The conference is organised by the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS) and the Arab Organisation for Education, Culture, and Science (ALECSO) on December 20-21, 2023, at the ALECSO Headquarters in Tunis.

15 inclusive and diversified interactive meetings were held on the first day of the Conference.

The Conference also provided an opportunity to address a number of issues, including how to cooperate on a global scale to meet the challenges of food security, and how to use modern technologies to develop an agriculture that achieves food security and the concept of food security and its overlap with the concept of health, energy and water as a single unit.

A workshop will also be organised to establish an Arab network of scientists from the diaspora in the field of food security, water and the environment.