AARINENA association, represented by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Rida Shibli, participated in the Regional Consultative Technical Meeting (RCTM), which was held virtually from October 23 to 25, 2023. This meeting is part of the preparations for the Thirty-seventh Session of the Near East Regional Conference (NERC-37), which will take place in February 2024.
The key outcomes of the meeting can be summarized as follows:
- A stocktaking on the economic and social impact of the protracted and recent crises on agriculture value chains, food security and nutrition in the countries of the region, and lessons learned and planned actions to accelerate the agrifood systems transformation.
- Inputs to inform the main papers to be submitted to NERC-37 with specific focus on the main issues to be discussed in each paper.
- Recommendations on the modalities for addressing these priorities in preparation for the Regional Conference.
In the context of poly-crises the NENA region is facing, it is imperative to transform the agrifood systems to make these more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. This has been recognized and covered in the previous two Regional Conference (NERC-35 and 36). However, the progress in the past few years had been hampered inter alia by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Recover and Restart actions that the NERC-36 recommended, are being implemented however, to hasten the transformation of the agrifood systems, there is a need to change the gears by relying on the various accelerating actions, tools, policy plans and enabling platforms. This could be achieved through discussion and agreement upon a shared regional agenda.
In this regard, NERC-37 aims at endorsing and launching an effective Regional Agrifood Systems Transformation Roadmap (2024-2027). The Regional Roadmap would include the elements for accelerating the agrifood systems transformation (towards more inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable food systems) with clearly defined pathways and action plans engaging the member states and FAO.