Dr. Seyed AliMohammad Mousavi, the D-8 Secretary-General, held a meeting with Eng. Wassfi Hassan El Sreihin, Secretary-General of the African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) in New Delhi on 08 January 2016 at the latter’s office in the AARDO Secretariat in New Delhi.

The two interlocutors held a very fruitful and effective discussion in a cordial environment. Dr. Mousavi informed the AARDO Secretary-General of the latest developments taking place within the Organization and conveyed that 05 (five) Members of AARDO have common membership with the D-8. He also said that the D-8 was moving towards implementation of policies in the next phase of its life cycle and undertaking common projects that would directly benefit people to improve their economic standard.

The D-8 Secretary-General informed Eng. Wassfi that Agriculture was one of the priority areas of the D-8 cooperation and the Organization put a lot of emphasis on agricultural cooperation among its Members. He mentioned that cooperation between the D-8 and the AARDO may benefit Member States in designing their food production and security. He also emphasized the need to operationalize the MoU signed between the two organizations in 2013 and discussed establishment of formal mechanism for regular consultations in order to further common interest in a joint effort. 

Eng. Wassfi warmly welcomed the D-8 Secretary-General to the AARDO Secretariat and informed him of the AARDO scope of work. He took the D-8 Secretary-General and his delegation through a comprehensive presentation on AARDO activities and the organization’s international partnership. He noted that AARDO was ready to work with D-8 on issues of mutual interest, with particular emphasis on capacity building programme and sharing of knowledge as well as expertise in the development of projects. Both concurred that the two Organizations had a lot of scope for joint effort in order to yield mutual benefit, sharing of information and analytical framework in particular. They agreed to inform each other of respective focal points who would develop a joint programme during the upcoming D-8 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting to be held in 2016 in Pakistan. 

It may be mentioned that the AARDO is an international organization established in 1962 and currently has a membership of 30 (thirty) countries from Asia and Africa. The organization specializes in rural development and knowledge sharing among member states.