President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has asserted the importance of keeping up with plans to achieve the overall agricultural development, which in turn could help meet the country’s food security.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Agriculture Minister Abdel Moneim El Banna, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said on Tuesday.

The meeting comes within the framework of directives of President Sisi to set up new agricultural communities to increase Egypt's crop production and expand in the projects of livestock and poultry, the presidential spokesman noted.

During the meeting, President Sisi has called for supporting projects with high revenues and handling other stalled projects, Radi added. 

On this regard, President Sisi has asserted the importance of strengthening coordination between the Irrigation Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry to solve farmers’ problems and enhance the level of agricultural and water services offered to them. 

Furthermore, the meeting has touched on Sisi’s directives to different ministries, including the Agriculture Ministry, to draw up a plan to develop North Sinai's Bir al Abed area which recently witnessed a deadly terrorist attack on Al Rawda mosque, Radi said.

For his part, Banna has notified President Sisi that his ministry had succeeded in exporting several agricultural products to China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan, as well as lifting bans imposed by Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Australia on some agricultural products and crops, Radi said.

Moreover, the agriculture minister has posted President Sisi on various projects being implemented to boost the country’s livestock production and dairy products. 

Banna has briefed Sisi on steps taken by the ministry to raise the cotton productivity to regain its global position