Minister calls for pan-Arab agricultural cooperation

Lebanese Industry Minister Nadim Salem on September 8 urged Arab agricultural engineers to join together in a coordinated attempt to make the sector more internationally competitive.

Speaking at the opening of the twelfth conference of the union of Arab agricultural engineers, Salem said the agriculture sector in the country, especially in the occupied south, suffered drastically from a lack of professional experience.

Addressing engineers from over a dozen countries he said, "It is vital that you stand by the southern farmer and support him, so that he can stay in his land."

The agricultural engineer union's secretary, Yehia Bakour, said that the conference was one of the most important the body has organized for the past 25 years.