Iraq News Now

Erbil-27 February 2020 – The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources-Directorate of

Planning in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations (FAO), has held a consultation meeting on improving animal health services. The

objective of the meeting was to discuss FAO programs and support to strengthen national

veterinary institutions as a key instrument for enhancing rural livelihoods.

Speaking on behalf of the Ministry, Dr. Ghazi Faeq Haji, Director General of Planning, stated that

FAO programs in the KRG are of great importance to the agriculture and livestock sectors. He also

expressed the Ministry’s readiness for increased collaboration with FAO on vaccination campaigns

to control Endemic and Cross-Border Epidemics that negatively affect animal production in the

country.

Moreover, Dr. Haji praised FAO’s role in supporting disease surveillance especially that livestock

vaccination campaigns have been limited in KRG due to financial crises. He also stressed on the

importance of mutual coordination to include other stakeholders and donors.

FAO’s Country Representative for Iraq, Dr. Salah ElHajj Hassan commended the Government of

Kurdistan for taking the initiative in organizing this meeting. He informed the meeting that FAO

received funding from US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to control and reduce the

international movement of animal diseases threatening livestock production, food security and

nutrition, food safety and health and the environment in Iraq and KRG. He expressed FAO’s

commitment to strengthen the capacity of veterinary services to detect, diagnose and report highly

pathogenic animal diseases.

Dr. ElHajj Hassan also highlighted that FAO supports the Kurdistan Region initiative to move

forward with sustainable growth that ensure agriculture and rural livelihoods improvement,

poverty reduction as well as build resilience to climate change through institutional capacity

building.

The DTRA project targets three governorates; Duhok, Nineveh and Anbar, and will strengthen the

technical and institutional capacity of Iraqi veterinary services for effective surveillance and

control of zoonotic and transboundary diseases in order to protect livestock from losses and reduce

serious threats to human health and safety.

The meeting was attended by specialists from the Veterinary and Research Departments of the

Ministry and Senior Officials from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in

Iraq.