Bilateral meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia – H.E. Abdelmonem Belati

New York  – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met His Excellency Abdelmonem Belati, Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, on 23 March 2023 in New York on the sidelines of the UN 2023 Water Conference.  

The Minister welcomed the opportunity to discuss a wide array of development cooperation matters with FAO's leadership, especially around far-reaching climate actions in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and their impact on Tunisian livelihoods. The Minister added that Tunisia is seeking actionable climate solutions to help build more resilient livelihoods. He added that Tunisia is interested in continued collaboration with FAO, guided by concrete objectives and results in response to the closely interconnected challenges at the juncture of food insecurity, water shortages and climate variability.

The Director-General went on to speak of Tunisia's potential to transform its agrifood systems, including by investing in more competitive agrifood value chains and leveraging the full potential of Tunisia's local heritage and food culture, including as part of Mediterranean diets and the regional culinary heritage they represent. The Director-General also reaffirmed FAO's willingness to support Tunisia in investing in, and transitioning onto, more sustainable and resilient rural and agrifood economies, especially in the face of the climate crisis and water scarcity. 

The Minister informed that 85 percent of Tunisian farmers are smallholders and have been heavily impacted by recent droughts. To this end, he said that FAO's technical assistance, together with that of its partners, can continue helping them adapt to, and cope with, the effects of the climate crisis. In terms of concerns over water scarcity, the Minister touched on Tunisia's desalination and wastewater recycling efforts, but mentioned the need for a more cost-effective and longer-term approach to ensuring water security. From his end, the Director-General spoke of the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative, through which Tunisia could work to leverage investment and capacity building opportunities, including around water issues, to build more resilient rural and agricultural livelihoods, informed by data-driven and science-based solutions.