On July 14 2021, the International Islamic Food Processing Association (“IFPA”) participated in the online international conference “Best practices for building sustainable food systems in the OIC region” hosted by the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (“IOFS”) with the support of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (“OIC”) Secretariat.
The live-streamed interactive international conference provides a platform to exchange game-changing innovations and high-impact solutions to radically transform the OIC food system into a more sustainable, inclusive, nutritious and resilient one. The event brings together ministers, decision-makers, opinion-leaders and leading scientific experts worldwide to discuss food security at all spatial levels from local to global and better understand environmental, nutritional, agricultural, demographic, socio-economic, political, technological and institutional drivers, costs and outcomes of intra-OIC current and future food security.
The opening ceremony moderated by Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, Director of Programmes and Projects Office, IOFS was initiated with keynote speeches from H.E. Dr. Ahmad Kawesa Sengendo, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; H.E. Mr. Martin Frick, Deputy Special Envoy to the UN Secretary General for the Food System’s Summit 202; H.E. Mr. Shadhan Chandra Majumder, Minister of Food of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; H.E. Mrs. Mariam Al Mheiri, Minister of State for Food & Water Security of the United Arab Emirates; H.E. Amie Fabureh, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of The Gambia; Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana; H.E. Mr. Ziyozoda Sulaymon Rizoi, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic Tajikistan; H.E. Mr. AlSayed Marzouq Al-Qusayr, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of the Arab Republic of Egypt; H.E. Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; H.E. Mr. Yerlan A. Baidaulet, Director General of IOFS.
IFPA was represented by Mr. Meirambek Issabekov, Head of Administration participated in the panel session moderated by Dr. Mohamed Ali, Food Practice Lead, Dinar Standard and entitled, “Management of food supply chains” along with other notable speakers such as Mr. Biola Badmos, IsDB Expert; Mr. Omar Ndaw Faye, Rice Breeder – Agronomist Engineer at the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research; Mr. Chaitanya GRK, Regional Director, MENA; Mr. Amr Ramadan, FAO Expert; Dr. Maxim Ivanov, Expert of the Center for Sectoral Economics of the Russian Financial Research Institute.
Mr. Meirambek Issabekov provided an overview of the key value proposition of IFPA, OIC countries food system security, and remarked: “this is a pivotal moment demanding urgent reflection on actions needed to bolster intra-OIC food safety. IFPA under the leadership of the Director General and CEO, H.E. Sheikh Bilal Khan is aiming to translate the G2G mandate of IOFS into the B2B reality to explore key challenges, constraints and opportunities of OIC agri-food sector as well as provide sustainable solutions through the medium of supply chain, value chain and blockchain”.
Food security governance, agricultural development and food supply chain management issues were particularly discussed by Mr. Md. Shahiduzzaman Faruki, Director General of the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Food of Bangladesh; Mr. Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, Director of Food Security Department, Ministry of Municipality and Environment of Qatar; Mr. Sisay Yeshanew, the FAO Legal Office, Development Law Branch; Mr. David Butler, Director, Sustainable Food Systems of Ireland; Dr. Agung Hendriadi, Director General of National Agency for Food Security of Indonesia.
The main outcome from an international conference highlighted the urgency of resolving environmental, economic and social objectives towards achieving sustainable food security at different levels across spatial and temporal scales.
