The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Iraqi Ministry of Trade (MOT), under which the two parties will work together to improve the supply chain management of the Public Distribution System (PDS) through which millions of Iraqis receive food rations. WFP aims to strengthen the ministry's capacity to run the system more efficiently.
"This is a joint partnership, part of the process, led by the MOT, to improve and strengthen the PDS" said WFP Iraq Country Director Edward Kallon. "WFP, with more than 40 years of experience in international food assistance, can play a key role in helping improve the management of the PDS supply chain."
This partnership is a critical element of the Iraqi National Development Plan and Poverty Reduction Strategy, and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to strengthen social safety nets for vulnerable groups. It is also in line with the WFP's five-year country strategy for Iraq (2010-2014).
The MOU was signed in Baghdad by Edward Kallon and the Iraqi Minister of Trade Dr Safa Al-Deen Alsafi. WFP and the Ministry of Trade will work together to mobilize the required resources to support project implementation.
WFP will also work closely with strategic partners, such as the World Bank, sister UN agencies, the International Monetary Fund, donors and academic institutions to ensure that the necessary technical assistance, technology transfer and capacity building is provided in the following critical areas:
Strengthening processes and building capacity to manage the PDS supply chain efficiently with regard to procurement, shipping, food quality control, pipeline management, logistics, including land transport, warehousing and commodity tracking, monitoring of the PDS and design and management of strategic grain reserves;
Deploying competent staff and consultants to provide technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of the MOT in supply chain management;
Assessing the current status of the supply chain of the MOT and developing a road map to build on existing skills, knowledge and systems to manage the supply chain effectively;
Improving procurement processes and introducing modern food procurement systems, including electronic tendering, bidding, credit and transaction risk mitigation;
The use of international insurance markets to cover transactions by partnering with multinational companies with extensive experience and a wide network of established trading partners;
Improving monitoring of world and regional supply and demand to anticipate price shocks and adjust imports accordingly;
Monitoring domestic supply and demand to determine the quantity and location of assistance that will be needed in response to a food shortage; and
Strengthening capacity for stockpiling/strategic reserves.
-End-
About WFP
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. In 2009, WFP aims to feed 108 million people in 74 countries.
WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see: http://www.wfp.org/rss
WFP has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.
For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Robin Lodge
WFP/Iraq
Tel. + 962-79-615-9797
Abeer Etefa
WFP Cairo
Tel +202-2528-1730 ext. 2600,
cell +201-6663-4352
© Press Release 2009
