According to Mehr News Agency, Gholamreza Nouri-Ghezeljeh, the Minister of Agriculture, at the 10th meeting of agriculture ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries in Kunming, China, at the beginning of his speech, expressed gratitude to the SCO member countries for standing by the Iranian people during the imposed war by the Zionist regime against our country.
He also elaborated on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s proposed solutions to strengthen and develop agricultural cooperation among the member countries of this organization.
The Minister of Agriculture emphasized the importance of the agricultural sector in member countries, stating: Strengthening this cooperation at the SCO level can lead to economic growth and prosperity, poverty alleviation, and rural development.
He deemed the cooperation of research institutions, universities, civil societies, and traders of member countries necessary and stressed the need to develop intra-organizational trade among member countries in agricultural products.
Nouri-Ghezeljeh said: Currently, agricultural trade among SCO member countries is about $60 billion per year, while the agricultural trade volume of these countries with other regions of the world exceeds $550 billion per year.
He added: In other words, less than 10% of the agricultural trade of member countries is estimated to be intra-organizational, while there is much higher potential for developing trade within this organization, as in most agricultural products traded in this region, SCO member countries are among the top 10 producers globally.
The Minister of Agriculture further added: For example, in rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables, dairy, seafood, food industries, and many other commodity groups, each of these products ranks from first to tenth in the world, held by SCO member countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially in some fruits and vegetables, seafood and dairy, dried fruits, and other products, as well as in wheat, grains, and rice, SCO member countries hold top production ranks. Therefore, it is necessary to remove obstacles to intra-organizational trade by adopting common solutions and policies.
Nouri-Ghezeljeh, referring to some of these common solutions and policies, emphasized: Close cooperation and the establishment of joint operational mechanisms between veterinary and plant protection organizations of these countries, harmonizing standards, developing logistics, transit and transportation, creating common tariff policies, and trade development activities such as holding exhibitions and trade conferences are among these solutions.
