@fao rne FAO & AAAID’s officials post meeting photo

03 April, 2016 / Cairo -- Mr. Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, received H.E. Mohamed Bin Obaid Al Mazrooei, President & Chairman of Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development ( AAAID) and the delegation accompanying him in the presence of a large number of FAO’s officials to identify opportunities for possible cooperation, at the FAO’s regional office in Cairo.

During the meeting, both FAO and AAAID’s officials introduced their visions, missions and programs. FAO’s investment Centre has provided an overview of its work on investment and the existing cooperation with various international financial institutions, and other partners.

Mr. Abdessalam Ould Ahmed said:” Visions and goals of FAO and AAAID are very close in many aspects and we are keen to develop  collaborations between us and identify the existing and future investment opportunities where FAO can contribute to identify new areas for agriculture-based investment and improve current investment outcomes and provide the necessary technical support “.

“A joint team from both sides will work together And meet soon to identify areas of potential collaboration at short and longer term,” Ould Ahmed added.

FAO has proposed to explore with AAAID the possibility to build a longer term collaboration and partnership that can be improved over time.

H.E. Mohamed Bin Obaid Al Mazrooei said: ”We seek to strengthen the cooperation with FAO and take advantage of its large experience in the food and agricultural areas, which are the main focus of our work in the Arab region, especially with the great convergence between our goals and objectives.”

The meeting attendees from FAO side were Mr. Pasquale Steduto, Deputy Regional Representative; Mr. Nabil Gangi, Senior Advisor to the Regional Representative for admin, finance , budget and planning; Mr. Fawzi Karajeh, Senior Water Resources Officer; Mr. Chakib Zouaghi, Investment Support Officer(TCIC); Mr. Kayan Jaff, Senior Policy Officer; Ms. Jennifer Smolak, Agro - Industries & Infrastructure officer; Mr. Mohamed Barre - Regional Statistician; Mr. AbdelHamied Adam, Senior Forestry Officer and Ms. Maha Zaki – Technical Programme Assistant.

From AAAID, the attendees were Ms. Hanan Ali Algaai, Head of Communication & Media, President’s Office; Mr. Mahmmod Al Werdani_ Office Manager, Agricultural foreign affairs , Ministry of Agriculture & Agrarian Reform  (Egypt),

At the end of the meeting, Mr Abdessalam OuldAhmed, awarded FAO 70th Anniversary Commemorative medal to H.E. Mohamed Bin Obaid Al Mazrooei. From his side H.E. Mazrooei offered AAID’s trophy to Mr. Ould Ahmed.

The FAO 70 Medal is a commemorative award created by FAO to recognize the efforts of key stakeholders in the world, who helped FAO achieve its mission in the past 70 years.