CAIRO: The Arab Organization for Agricultural Development has requested Egypt’s support to strengthen fish farming in Lebanon.

The matter came up during Thursday’s talks between Egyptian Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister El-Sayed El-Quseir and an AOAD delegation led by Director General Ibrahim El-Dukheri.

El-Quseir stressed the importance of cooperation between his ministry and the AOAD during the meeting, adding that Egypt offered all its agricultural expertise to fellow Arab states in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The director general requested the Egyptian side provide technical support to Lebanese fish farmers.

El-Dukheri said the AOAD was setting up a fish farm in Lebanon and training people in the sector within the framework of “AOAD’s interest in supporting a sustainable food security system in the Arab countries.”

He also offered an initiative to support the agricultural sector in Sudan to improve local and regional food security.

El-Quseir stressed Egypt’s interest in supporting Sudan.

El-Dukheri also reviewed a number of issues of cooperation and future projects between Egypt and the AOAD to boost food security.

He referred to cooperation in dairy production and processing, livestock breeding and artificial insemination among others, and reviewed the agenda of the AOAD’s executive council sessions and the proposed topics for a meeting planned in Cairo next week.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt’s annual fish production is about 2 million tons, including 1.6 million tons from fish farming and 400,000 tons from captured fisheries.

Egypt ranks first in Africa in fish farming and sixth in the world in the field.

Because of the abundance of Sudan’s natural resources, in particular in agriculture, Khartoum was selected to host the AOAD’s headquarters.

The AOAD was founded in 1970 and membership was completed in 1980 with the accession of all member states of the Arab League.