President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met the new representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “FAO” in Lebanon, Mrs. Noura Orabeh Haddad, today at the Presidential Palace.

Agriculture Minister, Abbas Hajj Hassan, also attended the meeting.

The President asserted that “Lebanon attaches great importance to the agricultural sector because it is an essential part of the production economy after Lebanon was depending on rentier economy for years”.

President Aoun also considered that the land is the most important thing for man, and that stability in life comes from the land.

In addition, the President pointed to the need to pay attention to securing wheat in light of the global crisis that resulted from the Ukrainian-Russian war.

For her part, Mrs. Haddad conveyed the greetings of the Director-General of FAO, Mr. Qu Dongyu, noting that the meeting he held with President Aoun during the President’s presence in Rome on March 31, was an occasion to emphasize the importance of cooperation between Lebanon and the FAO since the projects implemented by the organization in Lebanon, which will continue to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and the concerned authorities in order to continue their implementation.

On the other hand, Minister Hajj Hassan discussed the existing cooperation with FAO and the most prominent projects implemented with the support of the organization. The agriculture minister also tackled the conditions of the agricultural sector, the needs of farmers, the issue of wheat cultivation in Lebanon, milk production, and the issue of exporting Lebanese apples abroad.