Achieving food security became part of the state national security: Egypt’s PM

CAIRO – 18 February 2020: Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, held a meeting, Thursday, to review the state's unified vision for achieving food security along with following up on the modern irrigation project.

The meeting also tackled the comprehensive plan for developing Egypt’s villages and countryside as part of the presidential initiative ‘decent life’.

Attended at the meeting Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem al-Gazar along with Head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics Major General Khairat Barakat.

During the meeting Madbouly stressed the necessity of gathering all needed information regarding the status of most needy villages in order to implement the right plan for the various service and development projects

The Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of coordination to ensure that Ministries of Local Development, Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, and the Engineering Authority for the Armed Forces benefit from the data that the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics has, especially as it includes many accurate details about the projects implemented in the villages, supported by illustrative maps for those projects.

Madbouly added that the government pay much attention the issue of food security and achieving self-sufficiency in commodities and strategic crops, especially since this matter is no longer a choice for countries after the spread of the COVID pandemic.

He explained that the government is also working on establishing water treatment plants, irrigation networks, projects lining canals, and water conveyance lines, in order to preserve water resources and make optimal use of them. He noted that during a meeting with the heads of the qualitative committees in the House of Representatives two days ago he said that ‘achieving food security has become part of the national security of the state.’

 “We are working on formulating the axes of food security strategy, which aims to make the most of the available resources and achieve a balance between population growth rates and available resources.” Madbouly said in the meeting.