Bilateral meeting with H.E. Salem Abdullah Issa Al-Soqtari, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fish Wealth of Yemen

Bari - The FAO Director-General, Dr QU Dongyu, met today with His Excellency Salem Abdullah Issa Al-Soqtari, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Fish Wealth of Yemen, on the sidelines of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) High Level Conference in Support of the Plant Health Strategy in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) Region. 

The FAO Director-General referred to their previous meeting in Oman during the conference on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and conveyed his pleasure in meeting with the Minister once again to discuss how to further support smallholders and ensure food security. The Director-General noted the challenging times still facing Yemen and emphasized that peace and stability were prerequisites for food security and that the instability in Yemen was affecting food security across the region.

The Minister conveyed his appreciation for the opportunity to meet on the sidelines of this important conference and thanked FAO for its support, especially commending the FAO Regional Office for the Near East for the longstanding support in the agriculture sector. The Minister noted that Yemen was a dry country and was heavily impacted by climate change, as well as the red sea conflict which impacted food supply and led to a surge in food prices. The Minister informed that Yemen was an agriculture country with 75% of its population relying on agriculture and that despite the many challenges it was working on devising a national strategy on agriculture and livestock and looked forward to FAO’s support, especially with regard to invasive species and transboundary pests and disease.

The Minister also conveyed his wish to establish a quarantine centre, as well as veterinary laboratories, in collaboration with FAO. The Minister informed that the country continued to rely on the World Bank and on FAO for measures to address the Desert Locust, as well as red palm weevil and fall armyworm which were ravaging the country and affecting food security, as well as the economy as it was affecting dates that were key for trade.

The Minister furthermore noted that increasing institutional capacity to address these pests was a priority and commended the excellent cooperation with FAO in addressing the desert locust, but stressed the need for further support to eradicate the problem. The Minister thanked the Director-General for his personal efforts focused on important cash crops like coffee and honey which could generate income for farmers and informed that through the Ministry various centers had been established such as for beekeeping and genetic resources, and they were also working on seed banks and veterinary and fisheries institutes. Finally, the Minister restated the need to establish quarantine centers to combat transboundary pests and diseases.

The FAO Director-General understood the many challenges and reaffirmed FAO’s support to the government of Yemen, especially by providing the technical expertise needed to set up quarantine centers for livestock and for accessing the financial resources needed through the World Bank and through the Pandemic Fund.

The Director-General also referred to coffee being the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) for Yemen and noted that the Seeds Exhibition to be hosted in October at FAO would provide an important opportunity to showcase the sector to Members and partners. He further referred to the need to promote investments plans through the Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum during the annual World Food Forum in October 2025 at FAO headquarters.