ASTANA (TCA) — On April 28, Kazakhstan’s capital Astana hosted the 7th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development and the inaugural session of the General Assembly of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The inaugural session supported the candidacy of Kazakhstan for the presidency in the IOFS General Assembly.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the establishment of the IOFS in 2011 at the 38th Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC countries.
The IOFS is headquartered in Astana. The office will provide expertise and technical know-how to Member States on various aspects of effective development of agriculture, rural areas, food security and the development of biotechnology.
Kazakhstan has a big potential for food security. Over the past five years, the country has been one of the world’s leaders in the export of flour and grain. Kazakhstan still has reserves to improve the productivity and efficiency of its agriculture, as well as a sufficient amount of natural resources — 24 million hectares of arable land and 180 million hectares of pasture.
During the inaugural session of the IOFS General Assembly, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov read the welcome speech of the President of Kazakhstan.
“The Islamic world should not remain aloof from such issues as the eradication of hunger, agricultural development, and food security. The member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are uniting their efforts to make a huge contribution to food security,” President Nazarbayev said in his address.
Nazarbayev expressed a hope that in the future all OIC Member States will join the Islamic Organization for Food Security.
