Israel’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Oded Forer and his Bahraini counterpart, Wael Bin Nasser Al Mubarak, signed Oct. 19 a joint declaration of agricultural cooperation. The declaration aims to promote and expand cooperation between Israel and Bahrain in the fields of agriculture, livestock and food security.

The ceremony took place in the framework of the first-ever International Summit on Food Technologies from the Sea and the Desert, taking place this week in the southern city of Eilat.

Dozens of ministers and senior officials from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Jordan, Malta, Moldova, Morocco, Romania, Turkey, Ghana, Togo, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia, Argentina, Bulgaria and the Palestinian Authority participated in the three-day conference (Oct. 18-20), alongside representatives of UN agencies, Israeli research institutions and startups.

Initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the conference focused on promoting cooperation and innovation in aquaculture, as part of global efforts to address surging food insecurity. The conference aims at increasing the mutual sharing of knowledge, technology and diverse products, in order to expand agricultural products and improve the quality of production.