The Director General of the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Dr. Nizar Haddad met Ms. Catherine Bonnaud, the AFD Regional Director for the Middle East, accompanied by Mr. Laurent Duriez, the Agency's Country Director for Jordan.

Haddad said that AFD is a real partner in developing the agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship incubator at NARC, through the support of the Smart Desert Project, led by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in cooperation with (INWRDAM), and the partners, Blumont, Green-tech and Horizon, in addition to developing scientific research tools; where Haddad stated that the strong ambition to realize the SDGs cannot be fulfilled without effective collaboration with partners.

Haddad also pointed to the royal vision of economic modernization and the reform of a road map to unlock potentials for the agricultural sector development, as well as that the prediction of a prosperous agricultural future requires the adoption and transfer of modern technologies, artificial intelligence, value-added oriented agriculture, and meeting the challenges of climate changes, water, agriculture, and energy.

During the meeting, Haddad and Ms. Catherine discussed ways of enhancing joint cooperation in many fields of agriculture, particularly, training, capacity-building, and turning creative ideas into enterprises that contribute to inclusive development.

On the other hand, Ms. Bonnaud expressed her pride in the partnership with NARC, emphasizing on the role of NARC in pursuing solutions for the agricultural sector. Ms. Bonnaud said that the agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship incubator, is a success story and a fertile environment for agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship that brings ideas to maturity and implementation levels, while confirming on the potential and infrastructure of the agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship incubator, that create the spirit of success stories through which we look forward to networking and creating real opportunities capable of empowering Jordanian youth.

Mr. Laurent Duriez, the Agency's Director for Jordan, referred to a joint collaboration between AFD and NARC through the development of the agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship incubator, which is considered an attractive environment for entrepreneurial projects in various agricultural sciences, addressing the noticeable growth and develpment the incubator had witnessed, to develop the ideas of young entrepreneurs, farmers, agricultural engineers, and the private sector, with the support of NARC researchers' expertise.