FAO and Flanders – strong engagement on international development

As part of the Day of the Flemish Community (11 July) the Government of Flanders organized a luncheon for the diplomatic corps in Brussels. The FAO Liaison Office in Brussels congratulated Deputy Minister-President of the Government of Flanders and Flemish Minister of Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy and Agriculture Hilde Crevits for her nomination as National Convenor for the United Nations Food System Summit.

Earlier in 2021, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon and FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol signed a historic framework agreement that strengthens the partnership and provides a coherent and flexible framework for collaboration. The two partners have agreed to work together on issues of sustainable agriculture, land management, forestry and fisheries, agricultural innovation, inclusive food systems, resilience, rural employment and biodiversity loss.

Flanders is a longstanding and trusted partner of FAO in Africa. Together, the two partners cooperate on projects to build food and nutrition security for smallholder farmers and promote land-use planning and land and water management.

Flanders is also a significant contributor to the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM). The FMM is FAO’s funding mechanism for resource partners that are willing to contribute unearmarked resources to the Organization. The FMM has been instrumental in testing and scaling up essential development initiatives around the world.

Read more about our partnership with Flanders here.