Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad received the ministers participating in the quartet meeting of Arab ministers of agriculture including Jordan’s, Iraq’s, Lebanon’s along with Syria’s.President al-Assad affirmed that the economic and political crises and other problems facing the peoples of the world have proven that countries cannot achieve self-sufficiency in terms of food on their own, and there is no solution except through agricultural solidarity, especially in agricultural societies.His Excellency stressed that despite the development of technology, the additional challenges posed by climate change on the agricultural sector require joint regional efforts to mitigate the negative effects of those changes on the agricultural sector, protect it as a major source of income and production, and achieve food security for people.

President al-Assad considered that the Memorandum on Agricultural Cooperation signed between the four countries creates a common strategy for cooperation among them, adding “if work is done to expand this cooperation and share it with neighboring countries, then there will be an agricultural and food security net that serves the peoples of the entire region”.His Excellency stressed that the agricultural sector, despite all the problems it faces, has proven that it serves stability during regional and global turmoil.President al-Assad underlined “Therefore agriculture must remain one of the most important sectors of work and production that the Arab countries adhere to, and work to develop it to create investment opportunities in various aspects of this sector”. The Ministers, for their part, considered that signing of the MoU constitutes an effective step in supporting the joint strategies of the four countries to serve food security issues and agricultural trade among these countries as a first step.