23 June 2017, Cairo – The Government of Egypt and FAO renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on South-South Cooperation (SSC) for an additional three years to boost agricultural development of African countries through transfer of knowledge and innovative approaches. 

“The renewal of this MoU not only represents a milestone in further strengthening the cooperation between FAO and the Government of Egypt, but will also make Egyptian expertise better known across African countries” Mr Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt, said. 

This updated commitment will mainly support sustainable agriculture of the Nile Basin countries, by focusing on “farmer to farmer” exchanges through   on-farm demonstrations, short- and medium-term training courses, field visits, Training-of-Trainers (ToTs), as well as exposure visits for Egyptian experts to showcase best experiences and identify appropriate responses to the various challenges and opportunities.

Through the renewal of the MoU, the Government of Egypt and FAO will enhance their strategic partnership to increase knowledge sharing and technology transfer among Egypt and African countries. This agreement will foster the collaboration between Egyptian international training institutes and their counterparts in the Nile Basin countries, through cross-country experience sharing and practical skills application. 

Pilot projects, implemented in line with FAO’s Strategic Framework, will aim at obtaining more efficient and sustainable agrifood value chains from production to processing, as well as at developing sustainable aquaculture. 

This renewed commitment is also a result of FAO Director-General’s earlier visit to Egypt in March 2017, where he stressed the need to work together and support African countries in developing their aquaculture sector, in order to ensure food and nutrition security.

FAO will additionally facilitate the strengthening of institutional linkages between key training centres among the selected participant countries, scaling-up ongoing interventions with the ultimate objective to improve farmers' incomes and living standards.

Longstanding cooperation

The renewal of the FAO-Egypt MoU on SSC builds on the Government of Egypt’s long history in development cooperation actions with countries of the African region. In fact, since 1980, the Government of Egypt has carried out numerous activities to strengthen capacities and develop human resources through High-Level technical trainings and other SSC actions. 

Over the years, this has enabled more than 12 000 Egyptian experts to work in various African and Commonwealth countries, and more than 11 000 officials from African and Commonwealth countries have been trained in Egyptian institutions.

SSC is a form of development partnership that boosts countries' agricultural capacity by linking their policy-makers and producers with experts and technologies from the global South, including emerging economies that have built special expertise in specific agricultural sectors. 

For more information, please visit: http://www.fao.org/partnerships/south-south-cooperation/en/