Mohamed El Hady SIDATT, an Agricultural Officer in the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat in Rome, took the opportunity under FAO’s mobility policy to move to the FAO sub-regional office for North Africa, in Tunis, on 1 November 2015. He continues to work full-time on Rotterdam Convention issues, in particular focusing on delivery of technical assistance in countries in Africa and the Near East.
On 20 October 2015 the Tunisian parliament adopted and published a law to ratify the Rotterdam Convention, a key step in the ratification process. “We look forward to welcoming Tunisia as the 155th party to the Rotterdam Convention!” noted Bill Murray, Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention. “This has come about in part because of good collaboration between the Secretariat and colleagues in the Regional Office for the Near East. El Hady is well placed to support Tunisia’s implementation of the Rotterdam Convention. His presence in Tunis will strengthen contact with countries, both in encouraging ratification among non-Parties and in better understanding and responding to the need of Parties in the implementation of the Convention. This includes on key issues such as the identification of alternatives to candidate chemicals.”
El Hady has hit the ground running, during his first days in Tunis, he delivered a presentation on the work of the Convention and pesticides management, to journalists from Algeria, Morocco , Mauritania and Tunisia. We are looking forward to receiving more positive news from the sub-regional office in due course.