Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries Abdelmonem Belaati held talks and working sessions with senior German officials, on the sidelines of the 16th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin (January 17-20). The minister met with Jochen Flasbarth, the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The talk focused on means to boost agricultural cooperation, particularly in connection to water management and use. The German official said Germany is ready to scale up cooperation with Tunisia in all areas in relation with agriculture and water management, the ministry said. Belaati also held a working session with a member of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL). The pilot project of Tunisian-German cooperation on food security and the protection of consumer health carried out in collaboration with the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) took centre stage. Belaati laid emphasis on t he importance of this project and the need to speed up its implementation so as to protect Tunisian consumers, provide safe and quality products and improve their competitiveness.on foreign markets. A working session was also held with a delegation from Leibniz Institute. The two sides agreed to hold online meetings with Tunisian and German experts to debate means to develop agricultural production in arid zones in Tunisia. Besides, the minister chaired an economic meeting held at the seat of the Tunisian embassy in Berlin on agrcultural partnership. The event was attended by some fifty representatives of German ministries, official departments and economic cooperation organisations as well as Tunisian and German business operators. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse