Bilateral meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries of Yemen - H.E. Salem Abdullah Issa Al-Soqtari

Rome - The FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu, met with H.E. Salem Abdullah Issa Al-Soqtari, Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries of Yemen, on the margins of the 43rd Session of the FAO Conference.

The Minister congratulated the Director-General on his re-election and conveyed his appreciation for FAO's continued support to the agriculture sector in Yemen. The Minister reconfirmed the Government's commitment to working with FAO to support the needs of the population.

The Director-General confirmed FAO's commitment to supporting the people of Yemen to resume and increase nutritious food production and generate income in the context of the Hand in Hand initiative and sustainable agrifood systems transformation. 

The Minister further highlighted the potential of the fisheries sector in Yemen, which benefitted from FAO's technical support

The Director-General invited the Minister to attend the 2023 HiH Investment Forum, recalling that investment opportunities for national priority value chains in Yemen were presented at the 2022 Forum, including for honey, coffee, dairy processing and fisheries.

The two agreed to continue cooperation building on Yemen's comparative advantages, promoting investment in support of small-scale farmers, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and fishers.