Beirut, Agriculture ministers of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq agreed upon boosting the commercial exchange among the four countries via founding a joint private company on marketing agricultural products among them , or founding joint marketing associations with government support for them.

In the final statement issued today on the work of their quartet meeting in Beirut, Syrian Minister of Agriculture Mohammed Hassan Qatana, Lebanese Abbas Hajj Hassan, Jordanian Khaled Huneifat, and Iraqi Mohammed Kareem Al-kfaji underscored the need to set unified models for phytosanitary and veterinary health certificates among the four countries based on international standards.

They called on the other Arab states to join the dialogues and discussions held among the convening countries with the aim of expanding the horizon of cooperation and commercial exchange in the Arab arena.

The ministers decided to refer studying the topics related to transit and transport of goods to the concerned bodies to decide what is appropriate and to adopt it in the upcoming meeting.

They also stressed on studying the agriculture calendar for each county and identifying the possible opportunities for exchanging the agriculture products within specific time periods and quantities while enhancing cooperation with the Arab and international organizations and calling them to adopt and provide the necessary funding for the implementation of regional projects in the four countries to counter the effects of climate change on the agricultural sector and enhance food security .

The ministers agreed to convene the next meeting in upcoming September.

Source: Syria Arab News Agency