From 4 to 5 November, experts from the UAE’s International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) met with IAEA officials for Technical Cooperation for a consultative meeting at IAEA headquarters in Vienna. The meeting was a follow-up to the signing of a Practical Arrangement in March 2015, which laid out the foundation for cooperation and mutual support in the areas of desertification and land degradation, soil and water management, water-use efficiency and agricultural research. During the meeting, both parties prepared a mutually-agreeable action plan in order to operationalize the growing collaboration.
Dr. Najat Mokhtar, Director of the Division for Asia and the Pacific, welcomed Dr. Shoaib Ismail, Director of Research and Innovation, and other ICBA representatives to the IAEA headquarters. In the course of the meeting, the UAE counterparts toured the Siebersdorf Laboratory, situated 35 km from its headquarters in Vienna. The bilateral meeting concluded with the agreement that the two institutions will agree on TC projects that should receive ICBA support by the end of December 2015.
In addition, five thematic areas for future projects were defined. It was also agreed that joint brochures and success stories would be prepared and published for communications purposes.
For more information on ICBA, visit the website www.biosaline.org
