PhosAgro CEO Takes Part in the Launch of a Network of Soil Labs in the Middle East and North Africa as Part of a Joint Project With the FAO

MOSCOW, June 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev participated in the launch of a regional network of soil laboratories in the Middle East and North Africa (RESOLAN NENA) as part of a joint project with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

RESOLAN NENA will be part of a global network of 368 soil laboratories launched in November 2017 in order to facilitate the exchange of experience between laboratories from all around the world and to implement a programme to develop soil science.

At the regional level, the network will facilitate interaction between new and existing laboratories created within the project with the aim of providing support to farmers on sustainable agriculture, as well as collecting information for the development of global standards in this field.

The regional network will include 53 laboratories from 19 countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Other states in the region will join the network in the future.

Eduardo Mansur, Director of the FAO's Land and Water Division, noted that the creation of RESOLAN NENA is a very important step that will help coordinate actions to ensure sustainable land use at the regional and global levels.

"Given the environmental problems associated with global warming, as well as the socioeconomic problems stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the best time for all of us to come together and take part in this global sustainable agriculture initiative," said Mr Mansur in thanking Mr Guryev and PhosAgro for their assistance in implementing initiatives related to the creation of RESOLAN. 

PhosAgro's CEO, in turn, thanked the FAO for the honour of being the first Russian company selected to implement a global soil protection initiative.

"The goals of PhosAgro and of the FAO are in complete accord: to guarantee populations access to safe, high-quality food; to give farmers the opportunity to make effective use of their land by growing environmentally friendly products; and to protect the soil from degradation and destruction," said Mr Guryev in his opening remarks to the heads of regional laboratories.

He noted that, guided by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, PhosAgro helps ensure food security in Russia and around the world: PhosAgro's high-performance, environmentally friendly fertilizers are in high demand in more than 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents.

"Given the project's potential, PhosAgro will continue to support the FAO in creating a single global mechanism to promote technology and knowledge in the area of sustainable agriculture.

"We will make every effort to ensure that the project continues to make headway, thereby helping farmers grow clean crops efficiently and without accumulating pollutants in soils," said Mr Guryev.

About PhosAgro

PhosAgro (www.phosagro.com) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and one of the leading producers of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.com. 

*By total volumes of fertilizers supplied and by the simultaneous fertilizer storage capacity.

SOURCE PhosAgro