IFAD opens Liaison Office in Riyadh to strengthen partnerships with Gulf

Located in Riyadh, the office will play a lead role in strengthening IFAD’s partnerships with the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council, their institutions, private companies, foundations and research centres.

“The Arab Gulf countries were instrumental in establishing IFAD, and have been strong supporters of the organisation for more than 40 years,” said IFAD’s President, Gilbert F. Houngbo, who is in Riyadh for the inauguration.

“The opening of this office will strengthen our collaboration to combat extreme poverty and hunger in developing countries, to share knowledge and to maximise the use of IFAD’s technical expertise to support sustainable food security in the region,” he added. 

The office inauguration will be attended by a number of government representatives from Saudi Arabia, including Abdulrahman bin ‎Abdulmohsen Al-‎Fadhli, Minister ‎of ‎‎Environment, Water ‎and Agriculture, and Munir bin Fahad Al Sahli, Director General of Agricultural ‎Development Fund.

The Liaison Office will play a vital role in cultivating and strengthening alliances between IFAD and the Arab Gulf countries of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates who are members of IFAD. It will also raise awareness of the importance of investing in smallholder agriculture to reduce hunger and poverty.

The office will also facilitate knowledge sharing and the implementation of regional programmes, including Reimbursable Technical Assistance (RTA), to help the Gulf States to address their own food security concerns.

IFAD’s first technical assistance project in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia is promoting the production of coffee and mango crops through the training of 30,000 small-scale farmers.

Saudi Arabia assumed the G20 Presidency in December 2019 and Riyadh will host the 2020 G20 Summit. It is a founding member of IFAD and a member of its Executive Board. Saudi Arabia has contributed more than US$485 million to IFAD since 1977.