School feeding program launched in Libya

Libyan Cloud News Agency – Tripoli

The Minister of Education, Musa Al-Maqrif, held a joint press conference with the Minister of Industry, Ahmed Abu Hessa, and the World Food Program Representative and Country Director in Libya, Rawad Halabi.

During the press conference, they announced the launch of the school feeding program in Libya.

Al-Maqrif said that the program will be supported by public and private agencies. He pointed out that there are parties that have expressed willingness to support and implement the project, such as the Italian ambassador to Libya and the Ministry of Industry.

He clarified that a general policy will be drawn up to determine food needs and set the budget, in addition to training plans.

For his part, the Minister of Industry expressed the ministry’s readiness to provide full assistance, expressing the Ministry’s intention to establish three factories for dates in three cities in south Libya.

He said that that dates are an important material and included in the school feeding program, as well as providing places to train and equip the cadres who will work in these factories.

For her part, Halabi noted that the World Food Program has school feeding projects in about 100 countries around the world, and projects targeting nearly 80 million children, stressing that this investment for school students is a real investment, and investment in human development is one of fundamentals of investment.

She noted that Libya is a pioneer in school feeding, as this year it will target 40,000 students all over the country.

She concluded that they are still setting policies to reach 2.4 million children, noting that the first central kitchen will be established in Benghazi, and it will serve a large number of students.