Israel ‘to join hands with Arab countries to address food crisis’

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

Israel will join hands with Arab countries to address the food crisis in the region, said Oded Joseph, Deputy Director-General of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of Middle East and Peace Process Division. Exclusively speaking to The Daily Tribune, Mr Oded, who was here in Bahrain yesterday to take part in the first Negev Summit Steering Committee meeting at Sofitel Hotel Bahrain, said on the sidelines of the event, that global food crisis is going to have a big impact on the region and Israel along with the US is putting the best efforts to address the issue.

“Food security figures as a top priority in the bilateral ties between Israel and Arab countries including Bahrain. “Israel can share its technical expertise in food cultivation and storage, which will be definitely helpful for Bahrain and other countries in the region to address the issues related to food security. “At today’s meeting, a working group has been constituted to deal with food and water security and this highlights the seriousness the participants are attaching to the issue.”

On strengthening people-to-people relations, Mr Oded said it constituted one of the cornerstones of the bilateral ties. “As we speak, we have an academic delegation coming to the Kingdom, which will see many researchers and academicians interacting with their counterparts and students in the Kingdom. We will also see cultural figures from Israel including musicians and artists coming to the Kingdom. So, people-to-people relations and human connections will be enhanced encompassing the entire spectrum.”

When asked about bringing more Arab nations under the diplomatic umbrella, Mr Oded said one of the major objectives of Israeli Foreign Policy is to expand the circle of normalization of ties with more nations in the region. Highlighting on the need to have joint strategies to address security threats, Mr Oded said: “Another issue the participants have agreed on is creating a regional security architecture to address all kinds of security threats including the ones from Iranian regime.

What we must understand is that this is not a coalition against a particular nation or regime, but it is a gathering to address many issues including the security threats faced by the region.” Mr Oded is a senior member of the Israeli diplomatic team. Formerly, he led many successful diplomatic missions during the tenures as the envoy to Kenya and many other African countries.