Iran, Yemen discuss agricultural cooperation amid growing ties

Iran’s recently appointed ambassador to Sanaa met with Yemen’s Houthi-led National Salvation Government’s (NSG) Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Adulmalik Al-Thawr yesterday to discuss expanding agricultural cooperation.

According to Mehr News Agency, the Yemeni minister noted Iran’s experience in the field of agriculture, particularly in the field of research, agricultural machinery and combating desertification. He further stressed the importance of coordination between the two countries in order to prepare a cooperation agreement in the field of agriculture.

Tehran’s envoy also emphasised Iran’s ability to produce plant seeds and increase efficiency, which he explained has enabled the Islamic Republic to overcome economic sanctions in this field. Ambassador Hasan Irlu also announced Iran’s readiness to support Yemen’s agricultural industry.

READ: Saudi Arabia’s puppet Yemen government is hanging by a thread 

Irlu’s meeting with the Yemeni official comes a day after meeting with the NSG’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hisham Sharaf, where they discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties between the two countries.

Sanaa-based Saba News Agency reported that Sharaf praised Tehran’s position in rejecting Saudi “military aggression and siege imposed on the Yemeni people, and its support of the international efforts to end the aggression that created the world’s worsening humanitarian catastrophe.”

Yesterday, UNICEF warned that Yemen’s children are at “high risk” as the country edges closer to what the UN Secretary-General has described as potentially “the worst famine in decades” with acute malnutrition rates reaching record levels in some parts of the country, representing a ten per cent increase this year as the Saudi-led coalition’s war against Yemen approaches its sixth consecutive year.

READ: Yemen could lose an entire generation of children to hunger, yet the world remains silent