Egyptian-Syrian agricultural cooperation boosted

"Cooperation between Egypt and Syria has improved in all fields due to the good relations between President Mubarak and President Bashar Al-Assad," Mohamed Ahmed Ismail, Egypt's Ambassador to Syria, announced.

The Ambassador said that there has been fruitful bilateral agricultural cooperation between the two countries aimed at improving the quality of agricultural products and increasing yield per hectare.

After a meeting involving agricultural experts from the two countries, the Ambassador said that "the mutual agricultural cooperation which started some years ago has led to great improvements in the quality of certain products. Modern fertilizers have also helped a lot."

Ismail said that "both sides will discuss the findings of their experts in the Higher Egyptian-Syrian Committee meetings to be held in the next few months. The principles for cooperation will also be discussed.''

First Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Mamdouh Reyad, who is also a member of the Forestation Committee, said that he briefed the Syrian side on a new fertilizer used by the Ministry.

The fertilizer, given to Egypt by Japan, has proved to be harmless to the environment. Reyad added the Egyptian Syrian Committee for Forestation meets for two sessions alternately in Egypt and Syria on an ongoing basis, to brief each country's experts on the latest discoveries and new products.

In a related development, the head of the Syrian Committee being taken to improve agricultural cooperation between the two countries, declaring that they should pool their experiences to develop agriculture.

He suggested that the Ministry's new fertilizer, that has proved so successful in Egypt, should also be used in Syria to increase production and improve the quality of products there, an Egyptian report said.