Abdessalam ould Ahmed, Assistant Director-General of FAO, Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa said that more than 10 million people inside Syria are suffering from food insecurity as a result of the ongoing conflict there, as suffer 3.8 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.

On the sidelines of the regional workshop fourth multi-stakeholder about Food Security and Nutrition Abdessalam said that some Arab countries militarily and politically stable has made great progress in the issue of food security, with that countries that suffer wars and crises fell large levels in food security and insurance.

Region and North Africa faces multiple challenges in meeting the needs of food security and nutrition. In the same context Abdessalam said that the Arab world is suffering a significant rise in the level of food-insecure, referring to the number of people suffering undernourishment in region more than doubled from 1990 to score about 33 million people.

He adds that the challenges of food security and nutrition in the region remain a source of concern for policy makers, but regional cooperative efforts go forward, where countries in the region strengthen its efforts to achieve food security in spite of the current situation.

The Food and Agriculture Organization statistics of the United Nations “FAO”, that more than 60% of Gaza’s population in need of food aid, with that about 5.2 million individuals in Iraq need urgent humanitarian aid due to the ongoing violence and insecurity, In Sudan, about 4.6 million individual also suffer food insecurity.

The two day workshop reflects the collaboration, provides a platform through it representatives of countries, civil society and the private sector from all over the Security Near East and North Africa policy dialogues, and discuss mechanisms of convergence and more coordination at regional and national levels.