The 4th Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture was held in Baku on September 10, 2008 prior to the 4th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture. It was preceded by the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on September 08-09, 2008. The meetings were hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Delegations of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkey, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan attended the meetings. The ECO Secretariat’s delegation headed by Secretary General Khurshid Anwar and the representatives of international/regional organizations and financial institutions including FAO, ICARDA, UPOV, ECO-TDB, World Bank and the Office of International Epizootics Regional Commission for Europe also were present.
In his inaugural statement, H.E. Mr. Ismat Abasov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan welcomed the delegations to Baku. He stressed the significance of the 4th Ministerial Meeting for the promotion of regional cooperation in the field of agriculture.
The ECO Secretary General emphasized the reasons to raise agriculture to a higher priority, to give it more attention, stronger support, increased investment – indeed, to give it the place it has deserved and been seldom given. He also pointed out a role given Member States by their potential to attain food security at home and help ease the food situation beyond their borders. It recall all the delegations the importance of the implementation of the ECO Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS).
Some of the concrete decisions that were taken during the Meeting are as follows:
I. Approved the establishment of the ECO Center for Efficient Utilization of Water in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and requested Pakistan to prepare, in collaboration with member states, the Secretariat, FAO and the other concerned international organizations, a project proposal for the establishment of the Center; and recommended to the CPR to allocate seed money for it from the ECO Feasibility Fund so that donors be approached for funding.
II. Thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran for opening the ECO Regional Centre for Risk Management of Natural Disasters (ECO-RCRM) in Mashhad, and stressed the need for early finalization of the draft statute of the Centre by the 2nd meeting of the ECO Heads of Meteorological Organizations for timely submission to the Council of Ministers (COM) for approval.
III. Called for finalization of the Draft Document on the Establishment of the ECO Permanent Veterinary Commission (ECO-VECO) by the 2nd Task Force meeting to be held in Tehran by the end of 2008.
IV. Appreciated the holding of the Donor’s Conference in Antalya on May 8, 2008, to raise awareness (including funding) for ECO Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS), thanked the donor institutions for their support and called on the Secretariat to accelerate implementation of RPFS in collaboration with FAO and donor institutions; requested the Ministers for Finance of the Member States to send letters to IDB, WB and other donors institutions requesting their financial support for the implementation of RPFS.
V. Additionally called on the member states to consider to provide funding for the implementation of the RPFS.
VI. Appreciated the progress of ECO-FAO Technical Cooperation Programme on ”Strengthening Seed Supply in the ECO Region”; approved the establishment of the ECO Seed Association in Turkey and its operationalization by the Committee responsible for the establishment process; thanked the Republic of Turkey for its pledge to provide technical as well as financial assistance for the establishment of the Association; and endorsed the concept note on the seed component of ECO-RPFS, stressing its speedy implementation.
VII. Endorsed regional schemes for plant variety protection and release, seed certification, and phytosanitary measures; called on the ECO Seed Association, member states, the Secretariat, FAO, and ICARDA to take necessary measures for their timely and effective implementation; and appreciated the offer of UPOV to provide information and assistance on plant variety protection as well as to facilitate their membership to UPOV.
VIII. Expressed appreciation for IDB’s financial assistance to various ECO programmes and projects, and requested their Ministers of Finance to formally approach the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to use its pledged financial assistance for implementation of the ten national projects under the ECO Regional Programme for Food Security, and requested IDB to expedite the evaluation process of such applications.
IX. Encouraged the member states to extend every possible assistance to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for reconstruction in the field of agriculture bilaterally, through the implementation of RPFS and ECO Fund on Reconstruction of Afghanistan and in other ways.
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