@fao rne Group photo of the workshop participants

Kuwait, 31 August 2016: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and The Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources in Kuwait  (PAAF) have concluded recently a participatory technical consultation workshop with the participation of a team of experts from both FAO and PAAF and stakeholders. 

The workshop has been held under the FAO-Kuwait Partnership Programme (FKPP) for Agriculture Development that aimed at enhancing the country’s aquaculture and water sectors, tackle livestock diseases and boost technical skills. FAO and PAAF signed a USD 850 000 Unilateral Trust Fund Agreement that paves the way for the establishment of a Partnership and Liaison Office in Kuwait and the development of a five-year programme of activities. The agreement stipulating that FAO will provide technical assistance to formulate a portfolio of 12 projects.

These have expected project duration of between one and five years, and a total envelope of USD 46 million. In preparation to the fieldwork to design the portfolio, FAO has prepared 12 concept notes and is currently undertaking the full-scale design of the corresponding 12 projects, the completion of which is scheduled for 15 September, 2016.

Building on the results of the technical design missions, the two-day participatory stakeholder workshop has the two objectives first one is to wrap-up and consolidate findings and proposals emerging from the technical design missions; and second one is to identify capacity development areas that may require support

This workshop was opened by the Assistant-Undersecretary in charge of Fisheries in PAAF and National Coordinator, Eng. Tawfiq Ibrahim El Haddad and Kayan Jaff, Project Coordinator, FAO.

Cristiana Sparacino, Programme Officer, responsible for the overall technical and organizational coordination of the formulation of the FKPP portfolio, Chakib Zouaghi, Investment Support Officer and Andrew Nadeau, Senior Capacity Development Officer, FAO Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development Division (OPCC) have managed discussions during the two days of the workshop.

Commenting on the findings of the workshop, Mr. Kayan Jaff  said :”The workshop was an occasion to discuss and consolidate key findings and proposals emerging from recent technical design missions held by FAO from June to August 2016”.

“Findings from the workshop will help FAO further inform the development of the project documents under the FAO-Kuwait partnership” he added

It is worth mentioning that the 12 project proposals undertaken under the FAO-Kuwait Partnership Programme (FKPP) for Agriculture Development has been classified into four Clusters: Fisheries Development, Crop, water and forage, Livestock development and animal health, and Capacity Development