Healthy diets for a growing, increasingly urban population in the presence of water scarcity and advancing climate change necessitate urgent changes and transformations in the agrifood systems of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.  

In this light, the 36th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for the Near East (NERC 36) is held this year under the theme " Recover and Restart: Innovations for better, greener and more resilient agrifood systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

#NERC36 is hosted by the Republic of Iraq. This year’s edition of the Conference is held in two segments; the Senior Officers Meeting that already took place from 10 to 13 January 2022 through a virtual modality, while the Ministerial Session will take place through a hybrid modality on 7 and 8 February 2022. 

The Ministerial Session of the 36th Regional Conference for the Near East (#NERC36) is open to all FAO members in the Near East and North Africa region, representatives of the United Nations Bodies and specialized agencies and to selected observers. 

During the conference, ministers of agriculture, partner organizations, sister agencies and senior officials of member countries will meet to elaborate on regional challenges and priorities related to this topic in the NENA region. This will ensure the effectiveness of FAO’s impact in the region and will help in defining its work priorities for the next biennium. 

These priorities will be determined through engaging roundtable and panel discussions with all member countries to identify best practices to transform agrifood systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. 

On 7 February, there will be a series of ministerial roundtables on issues of key importance for the future of the region’s agrifood systems. The purpose of the high-level discussions is to frame the deliberations and gather different perspectives from the member countries on priorities for action. 

This session will offer ministers the opportunity to provide their views on the subject, main areas for concern in the country, and how the country addresses these issues. The tangible outcome of the session will be a common vision on the way the countries of the region should address the issues, and opportunities for a joint action at regional level. 

On 8 February, a side event will discuss climate action and regional opportunities in the context of the forthcoming COP 27 and COP28 that will take place in the region.