MNA � Iran and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will sign a memorandum of understanding on watershed management by the end of this year.

According to Khalil Aghaee, Deputy Minister and Head of Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO), on the sidelines of a meeting with new FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran Gerold Boedeker, the memorandum will be signed to enhance cooperation between Iran and FAO on risk management, special planning, and the effectiveness of activities relating to watershed management in Iran.

Aghaee added that the FAO office in Iran has agreed to provide financial and administrative support for this understanding.

Iran joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1953. FAO office reopened in Tehran in 1992 after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The major thrust of FAO�s technical assistance to Iran has been in the areas of capacity building, policy and strategy development, crop production, livestock and animal health, fisheries and forest management, and, emergency and rehabilitation programmes, as reported by FAO official website.