Azeri Agriculture Minister to visit Tehran

Speaking to reporters, he said that the upcoming event will be headed by the Agriculture Jihad Minister Mohammad-Reza Eskandari and will be attended by the agriculture ministers of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Pakistan as well as senior delegations from five other ECO member states, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"Meanwhile, the two-day agricultural experts meeting of ECO member states will be held in Tehran from March 5-6.

"Establishment of ECO agricultural biotechnology network is one of the major topics on the agenda of the upcoming two-day event," he added.

Ejlali pointed to biotechnology as one way to provide food security and said that the third world countries are now paying special attention to it.

"Advancement of this science in Iran and Turkey prepares a proper ground for cooperation among ECO member states in the field," he added.

Turning to the prospect of cooperation between ECO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on providing food security as another issue to be discussed at the meeting, he said that a 300,000-dollar agreement is expected to be signed by representatives of the two bodies.

"Meanwhile, four other agreements on management of water resources, campaign against famine, protection of plants and cooperation in the domain of veterinary will also be inked during the meeting," he added. IRNA