The signing of the renewal agreement was attended by senior Egyptian government officials and members of the WorldFish Board.
Photo: WorldFish
Egypt has renewed its hosting agreement with WorldFish for another 25 years, solidifying the country’s role as a regional leader in aquaculture research and production.
The agreement was signed in Cairo on 4 December by H.E. Alaa Farouk, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, who emphasised the importance of continued investment and research collaboration on aquatic foods in order to strengthen Egypt’s competitiveness.
Hosted in Egypt since 1997, WorldFish has played a central role in the country’s transformation into one of the world’s largest aquaculture producers. Over the past quarter century, Egypt’s farmed fish output has increased twelve-fold, supported by the work of the Abbassa Research and Training Center in Sharqia Governorate, which opened in 1998. The Center focuses on genetic improvement of Nile tilapia, feed efficiency, fish health, inclusive market development, and climate-smart aquaculture, hosting another WorldFish collaborative project, the Center for Renewable Energy in Aquaculture (CeREA), since 2023.
A major output of this work is the Abbassa strain of Nile tilapia, which according to WorldFish grows up to 28% faster and reduces environmental impact by 36%, enabling improved productivity even in arid regions. Training programs delivered through Abbassa and partner institutions have also reached more than 15,000 stakeholders from over 100 countries.
Future priorities under the renewed agreement include continued genetic improvement of tilapia and scaling the Abbassa strain to 35% of Egypt’s tilapia farms. Additional areas of focus include sustainable feed innovation, renewable energy use in the fish value chain, farm certification for export markets, climate-impact assessments and improved biosecurity measures, WorldFish said.
“WorldFish is honoured to be hosted by Egypt for another 25 years, cementing our longstanding collaboration,” said Dr. Essam Yassin Mohammed, WorldFish Director General. “WorldFish is committed to work with Egypt and to bring its cross-cutting scientific expertise that can help the country and the wider region unlock the many benefits of sustainable aquaculture and related value chains - strengthening nutrition, women empowerment and economic growth.”
H.E. Alaa Farouk noted the strategic importance of continued cooperation: “It is important for Egypt to drive more investments in its aquaculture sector in Egypt and Africa. In working with WorldFish, we can develop an integrated action plan for developing the sector, as the center brings scientific expertise that can raise the efficiency of producers and help Egypt’s producers achieve global standards, necessary to connect to foreign markets.”
The news follows a recent WorldFish agreement signed with the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to establish a regional aquatic foods innovation hub for West Africa in the country, in addition to a separate agreement with Türkiye focused on boosting research on fisheries and aquaculture.
WorldFish, which celebrated its 50th annniversary this year, was also recently awarded an honour by the FAO for its work on food security, as part of the UN agency's first Global Technical Recognition for Sustainable Aquatic Food Systems.
