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QNA
Doha
Qatar, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday signed an agreement with Global Dryland Alliance (GDA), making Doha the alliance's new headquarters.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad al Muraikhi signed the agreement on behalf of Qatar and GDA Executive Director HE Ambassador Bader al Dafa signed on behalf of the alliance.
The GDA initiative was put forward by the Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani in a speech he gave at the 68th UN General Assembly in 2013.
GDA aims to provide support to researches and new innovations of member states and to implement the results. The alliance also aims to provide the best practices that can be shared with dryland countries around the world.
After the signing, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lulwah al Khater said the 11-state alliance seeks to achieve food security for dryland countries, which will result in further stability and peace around the world.
GDA also aims to cooperate with local, regional and international partners to find solutions and implement them in order to face challenges related to agriculture, water and energy in dryland countries, the spokesperson added.
Khater said the alliance aims to engage in joint research and technological innovation relevant to the alliance members' agricultural, water and energy use needs, and to coordinate with the private sector to implement and spread innovative solutions related to food security, exchange the benefits of new technological and research innovations with least developed dryland countries in an effort to reduce hunger and poverty.
She added that some land will be allocated to set up storage for cattle, a farm and laboratory to conduct research on desert and dryland.
On his part, Ambassador Dafa said the alliance is not an alternative for the organisations that work in this field, but complements their efforts and will work in coordination and consultation with them in the area of food security for dryland countries.
He stressed the urgent need to intensify the efforts in developing food security programmes as the world population increases by 200,000 per day, with a gap between consumption and agriculture investment, as well as climate challenges that impose a difficult reality on dryland countries.
He called on the private sector to play its role in projects that develop food security in member states.
The GDA executive director said the challenges are more acute and serious in dryland countries, which are mostly developing with limited means and more vulnerable to hunger and epidemics.
On October 15, 2017, Doha hosted the GDA Founding Conference, where the signing of the foundation treaty of the new organisation took place.
The alliance includes dryland countries with common challenges and is open to partnerships with all countries and multilateral institutions. It provides a new approach based on the latest innovations in addressing the food security challenges of many countries.
