China signs $50 million South-South Cooperation agreement with FAO
Focus on knowledge exchanges for sustainable agriculture, value chains
Rome - China and FAO today signed a $50 million agreement to support developing countries in building sustainable food systems and inclusive agricultural value chains, recognizing the growing importance of collaboration between Southern countries in the fight against extreme hunger and poverty.
China's new contribution to the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund will support the exchange of Chinese agricultural experts with countries in the global South, particularly in low-income food-deficit areas of Asia and the Pacific, Africa and Latin America, over a period of five years.
"China has made strides in decreasing hunger and has used its own experience to support other countries in doing the same," FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the FAO Conference.
"It has become clear that while we have the power to end hunger in our lifetime, we will only succeed if we work together - Southern countries empowering one another by exchanging knowledge and tools is a key part of this," he added.
Since 1990, China has successfully lifted 138 million of its people out of chronic hunger and reached the World Food Summit Goal, in addition to reaching the Millennium Development Goal of halving the prevalence of hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline.