Shaping new South-South and Triangular Cooperation partnerships

3/03/2023, Riyadh - On the sidelines of the Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum (RIHF) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 20-21 February 2023, the Director of the FAO South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) division (PST), Mr Anping Ye, met with high level representatives to discuss new potential SSTC partnerships.

During the forum, Mr Anping Ye and his delegation from FAO headquarters, presented the main highlights of FAO’s work in SSTC. Also present at the RIHF, was Mr Abdulhakim Elwaer, FAO Assistant Director - General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, who highlighted the important role of the Regional Office in promoting South-South cooperation across Member Countries and in facilitating dialogue on regional issues and common transboundary challenges.

The forum also addressed humanitarian challenges and highlighted innovative practical solutions in accordance with international humanitarian principles and standards and in line with the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Bilateral meetings were also held in parallel to the Forum. Mr Ye and his delegation met with H.E. Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, the President of the Islamic Development Bank. The President thanked FAO for providing its collaboration and contributions. 

When referring to the green energy project in central Asia, the President vowed the Bank’s intent to bring all of its activities under climate friendly projects. H.E. Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser also reiterated his willingness to join forces with FAO in mobilizing resources via SSTC.

Mr Ye and Mr Elwaer also met with the Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), H.E. Sultan Al-Shamsi. H.E. emphasized UAE’s incremental interest in the sectors of food security, livelihood and women’s empowerment and reiterated the countries’ full support to promote climate actions, and the importance of South-South Cooperation in agriculture. 

The PST delegation also provided an outlook of some FAO SSTC actions and how this modality could play a catalytic role in addressing food security issues, including Climate Smart Agriculture.

Two additional important bilateral meetings were also held with H.E. Eng. Ahmed Al-Baiz, the Assistant Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) and with H.E. Sultan Al-Marshad, the Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

Both KSrelief and SFD showed great interest in the recently launched RBAs Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme and the work done by PST on agribusiness incubation. Both parties also expressed their gratitude to FAO colleagues and confirmed their willingness to work together on SSTC, in order to address food insecurity in the region.

These meetings confirmed the strong ties between the FAO Headquarters SSTC and the Near East and North Africa office on SSTC related endeavours, which will be key to forging new SSTC partnerships in the region and beyond.