Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Costa Rica visits CATIE

• Accompanied by a delegation of sustainability and agriculture managers, they toured the Campus to learn more about CATIE's work and the possibilities of working together.

February 27, 2023. Rawdha Jumaa Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Costa Rica, together with Viviana Chaves, in charge of sustainability, and Hamza Cherradi, in charge of agriculture, visited CATIE to learn more about the Center's work.

Upon their arrival they were welcomed by the Director General, Muhammad Ibrahim, who made a presentation on CATIE's work in the region, accompanied by the Director of the Research Division, Leida Mercado, Carlos Araya, Director of Alliances and Green Business, the Coordinator of the Climate Action Unit, Pablo Imbach, and Fernando Casanoves, Director of the Education Division.

Afterwards a tour of the campus was made, visiting the International Coffee Collection where William Solano, curator of Germplasm Collections, explained the varieties in the collection, and emphasized that "the cup of coffee that reaches everyone's tables is at risk due to climate change", finally highlighting how CATIE's research work, with the creation of hybrids, produces species that are more resilient to diseases and climatic affectation.

The International Cocoa Collection was also visited, where there was also a tasting of different species, addressing the work of genetic improvement.

The ambassador mentioned that "walking in the field and seeing the work being done in coffee and cocoa shows many opportunities for the UAE to collaborate with CATIE in the future, as it is one of the countries working to combat climate change and looking to advance the agricultural sectors."

For his part, Ibrahim emphasized the possibility of joint collaboration in areas such as creating a program to train human capital to promote and accelerate the transformation of food systems, creating a scholarship fund for women and young people, and developing an exchange program for students, professors and researchers with universities in the United Arab Emirates and CATIE.

In addition to creating opportunities for joint research on strategies and innovation pathways for climate adaptation and mitigation actions, and promote inter-institutional cooperation to organize events within the framework of the next COP to be held in that country.