Director-General calls on Members to bring development back to central stage
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The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, today addressed the Joint Meeting of the 132nd Session of the Programme Committee and the 188th Session of the Finance Committee, two of FAO’s governing bodies that report to the FAO Council, which will meet from 29 November to 3 December.
In his opening remarks, the Director-General showed his satisfaction by the fact that the two committees resumed their in-person meetings, in a hybrid format which also includes online participation, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and noted he was “prudently optimistic” about the opportunities ahead as countries slowly emerge from the impacts of the pandemic and move into recovery phase.
“We need to work together in a more effective and efficient manner to bring big development back on the central stage as we move forward into the new normal,” Qu said.
“As I told the G20 Leaders last weekend, I firmly believe that big development can solve big problems, small development only solves small problems, and no development will accumulate more problems.”
In this sense, the Director-General highlighted that FAO will continue to reach large shares of rural populations and relaunch economic activities in a timely, equitable and efficient manner through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme.
The Programme includes the use of data, digital technologies and innovation to assist smallholder farmers, linking social protection to rural-based livelihoods, women empowerment and humanitarian assistance.
The Director-General also stressed that, with the conclusion of the UN Food Systems Summit, now it is time to focus on concrete actions in the field to support countries to transform agri-food systems, making them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, particularly through science, innovation, enabling policies and investments. In this regard, QU noted that in 2022 FAO aims to scale up the implementation of some initiatives such as Hand-in-Handand 1000 Digital Villages.
The Director of Strategy, Planning and Resources Management (OSP), Beth Crawford, informed Members of Programme and Finance Committees about the latest governance developments in the Organization, in the context of the upcoming implementation of the new Strategic Framework 2022-2031, emphasizing how it puts the 2030 Agenda at the center and aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the guiding lens of SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (No hunger) and SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities).
Today’s session of the Joint Meeting was chaired by Ambassador Yael Rubinstein, Permanent Representative of Israel to FAO and Chair of the Programme Committee.
The Independent Chairperson of the FAO Council, Hans Hoogeveen, and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Uruguay to FAO, Imelda Smolcic, Chair of the Finance Committee, attended the Joint Meeting.
The Programme and Finance Committees will meet separately until 12 November.
The Members of the Programme Committee are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Iraq, Mali, New Zealand, Norway, Sudan and Zambia. The Finance Committee is composed of: Australia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Panama, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand and United States of America.