Bonn (Germany) - 12 May 2025 – The Director General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), His Excellency Ambassador Berik Aryn, is participating in the First Stakeholder Meeting of the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security being held at the headquarters of the Crop Trust in Bonn, Germany.
Ambassador Berik’s engagements included a donor roundtable, informal yet impactful discussions co-facilitated by Dr. Nasser Al-Kahtani, Executive Director of Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), and Dr. Leonard Mizzi of the European Commission. Participating members outlined respective strategic priorities under the Flagship Initiative and explored areas where technical and financial support will be essential for delivery. The Director General emphasized that while the IOFS is not a donor entity, it has the ability to bring to the table the implementation capacity and regional coordination mandate across its Member States, many of which face acute food insecurity. He also emphasized the importance of partnerships in advancing some of the IOFS mandates, including the Afghanistan Food Security Program (AFSP) and Africa Food Security Initiative (AFSI). He additionally underscored the IOFS readiness to align with the Flagship’s vision, particularly through the Organization’s ongoing regional programmes on strategic commodities, capacity building, and science-based food security policy support, especially in areas like wheat development, cassava value chains, and climate-resilient farming systems.
Separately, the Director General held a number of bilateral meetings with key partners to discuss targeted collaboration under the Flagship framework and explore opportunities for joint initiatives, including with Mr. Declan Kiranne, Chairman and Managing Director, UN Science Summit, with whom initial commitment was reached for the IOFS to be part of the organizers of this year’s Science Summit on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, with Dr. Nasser Al-Kahtani, Executive Director of AGFUND, understanding was reached for potential joint work in some Member States, including common Member States of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and with Dr. Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director of Crop Trust, exchanges were made towards bilateral cooperation in supporting gene bank development in IOFS Member States, particularly the one to be established in Kazakhstan.
Ambassador Berik finally joined fellow participants at a press briefing, where he reaffirmed IOFS’s commitment to advancing the shared objectives and call to action within the framework of the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security.
It should be mentioned that that the meeting is to continue until 13 May 2025 when the Strategy to implement the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security is to be approved by all stakeholders, including the IOFS.
