Doha, April 27 (QNA) - Baladna Food Industries, a Qatari public shareholding company, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, signed an advisory engagement focused on supporting the recovery of Syria’s dairy sector.

A statement by the company published on Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) website explained that through this engagement, IFC will work with Baladna to assess on-the-ground supply conditions, including milk production capacity, aggregation potential, logistics constraints, and compliance with environmental and social standards. The work will also examine demand, processing requirements, and market structure to help determine whether a sustainable, investment-ready dairy value chain can be rebuilt at scale.

Baladna Group Chief Executive Officer Marek Warzywoda said, "this collaboration with IFC reflects our belief that smallholder farmers must be part of any durable recovery. By grounding potential future investments in practical realities on the ground, we aim to help restore domestic dairy production in a way that supports nutrition, creates jobs, and delivers long-term value.”

IFC Regional Industry Director, Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services Wagner Albuquerque said that, "in conflict-affected settings, restoring domestic food production is both a development and an economic priority. This partnership is a great example of what we mean by AgriConnect — building direct, practical links between smallholder farmers, market infrastructure, and private sector investment, so that farmers are active participants in resilient, inclusive value chains."

This cooperation is expected to be implemented in stages, starting with analytical studies and field assessments, and then developing, when the appropriate conditions are available, into practical models for supply chains that take into account the specificities of the Syrian reality. (QNA