Caretaker Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Haj Hassan, met in his office in Beirut with his Sudanese counterpart, Abu Bakr Al-Bashir. Also attending was the Director General of the ACSAD organization affiliated with the Arab League, Nasser Al-Din Al-Obaid, a Sudanese delegation, which included senior officials and ministers plenipotentiary in the states, and Charge d'Affaires of the Sudanese embassy in Beirut, in addition to a number of Lebanese Agriculture Ministry officials. Haj Hassan stressed to the delegation that 'restoring stability in Sudan is an Arab need for our food security and a national interest.' He added: 'Sudan, with its agriculture, constitutes the food basket of the Arabs,'considering that 'the role played by ACSAD has contributed and continues to contribute to overcoming obstacles facing the Arab agricultural cooperation." Finally, Haj Hassan stressed 'Lebanon's desire to strengthen agricultural cooperation with Khartoum.' Source: National News Agency - Lebanon