SANA'A, Jan. 05 (Saba)- Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation organized on Sana'a a symposium on following up implementation of Rotterdam Convention in Yemen.

The convention aims at protecting humans, animals and the environment from the dangers of pesticides and chemical materials, in addition to the measures concerning its import/export, and exchanging information and techniques.

The symposium is organized by the ministry in cooperation with Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to discuss reports presented by ministries of agriculture and health, general authority of environment protection and customers authority on implementation of the agreement.

In the symposium, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Abdul-Malik al-Arashi said that the symposium comes with commitment of the government to carry out articles of the agreement to protect society from risks of insecticides, affirming the importance of gathering efforts to face these risks.

FAO advisor of the plants protection Tahar al-Azani said that the agreement is very important as it deals with commerce of chemical materials.

Al-Azani said that the agreement is the first line of defense against risks of chemical materials, adding that the number of chemical and agricultural materials increased during the period from 2004 to 2006 up to 39.

AH/AM

Saba