Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Iran are ready to realize the agricultural cooperation agreement they signed in 2008, Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 11, 2008 in Tehran, covering exchange of knowledge and information, exchange of experts, transfer of technology through training, seminar and workshop and cooperation in promoting each other`s farm commodities, he said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Sadegh Khalilian, here on Tuesday.

"The Iranian agriculture minister`s visit this time is intended to realize one of the agreements in the MoU, namely conducting the first phase of joint steering committee meeting," he said.

The joint steering committee meeting would among others discuss efforts to increase farm production, conduct agricultural research, develop husbandry industry, handle land and water and promote agroindustry, he said.

Meanwhile, Shadegh Khalilian expressed hope that the cooperation would encourage further development of the two countries` agricultural sector.

With the global temperature continuing to rise and food scarcity affecting a number of counties, the cooperation was expected to be able to serve as stimulus to reach food resilience, he said.

"To that end, concrete steps are needed to implement the MoU," he said. The Iranian agriculture minister arrived here on Monday for a three-day visit.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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