The Ministry of Environment and Water and The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO, International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and The International Centre for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Raffles Hotel Dubai, in the presence of Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water.

The MoU was signed by the Abdul Rahim Al Hammadi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry and by Mahdi al-Idrisi sub-regional coordinator for the GCC and Yemen on behalf of FAO, while the MoU was signed by Dr. Asmahan Al Wafi, General Director of the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) on behalf of the centre and by Aziz Awlad Bilqasim, Regional Coordinator in of the ICARDA on behalf of the centre.

Dr. Rashid said that the signing of the MoU comes as part of the ministry's interest in strengthening the existing strategic partnership between the ministry and the FAO, ICBA and ICARDA in order to provide the appropriate infrastructure to farming protected and advanced systems and the design and implementation of programmes and projects in innovations and modern agricultural techniques that will be implemented in the agricultural innovation centre in the ministry to promote protected agriculture, as well as the organisation of workshops for farmers, the private sector and investors to briefed on innovative solutions provided by the centre.

Under the terms of the Memorandum, the parties will exchange experiences in the areas of joint action and develop a framework for cooperation based on clear foundations for the promotion of mutual cooperation and exchange of experiences related to the MoU to achieve the fruitful cooperation between the parties and strengthen ties and exchange of information in the interests of the parties.

The parties agreed to hold regular meetings to discuss technical and operational issues aiming at progress in achieving the objectives of the Memorandum, organisation of seminars, joint workshops and training programmes in order to share knowledge and the exchange of expertise to build the capacity of workers in the field of protected agriculture, in addition to the exchange of information and relevant technical reports between all parties to take advantage of then in achieving the objectives of the MoU, in addition to providing periodic reports on a regular basis to all parties.