On 20 August 2023, His Excellency Prof. Yerlan Baidaulet , the Director General of the Islamic Organization of Food Security (IOFS), led the Organization’s delegation to the Opening Session of the Training on Modern Rice production Technologies for IOFS Member States, organized in partnership with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) at their headquarters in Gazipur, Bangladesh.
On the sidelines of the event, which is to run until 22nd August 2023, the Director General confided with Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir, BRRI Director General (Grade-1), and Mr. Md. Momtaz Uddin, Director General of the Food Planning Monitoring Unit (FPMU) and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food, who were unanimous in recognizing the pivotal role of IOFS as a critical platform for Member States to establish cooperative synergies and engage in constructive collaboration in the field of food security and agricultural development.
Separately, the IOFS Director General was warmly received at the campus of the Islamic University of Technology by its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. M. Rafiul Islam. The visit to this subsidiary of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) was a renewed opportunity to gain more information the IUT and explore ideas on how to materialize collaborative engagement with result-oriented joint activities, including the idea of holding capacity building programs, utilizing IUT expertise for IOFS food balance database, etc.
The IOFS Director General also had a bilateral meeting with the Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) scientist and eminent plant breeder, Dr Mirza Mofazzal Islam. The two sides agreed that it was high time for IOFS to engage on matters under the BINA’s domain and are to develop joint programs for knowledge transfer among IOFS Member States in the first half of 2024.
It is important to note that the two hosts of bilateral meetings were invited by IOFS Director General to participate in the First Sub-Forum of 2nd IOFS High-Level Forum on food Security, which will be devoted to Advancing Agri-Tech for Sustainable Food Security in Doha, Qatar, on 02-03 October 2023 on the sidelines of the IOFS 6th General Assembly.
During the bilateral meetings, the IOFS Director General was assisted by Mr. Abdula Manafi Mutualo, Advisor at Coordination & Cooperation Department, while Dr. Shakhlo Atabaeva, Program Manager, managed the proceedings of the training.
