Director-General at Latin America and the Caribbean FAO town hall: “We have to do more and we have to do better”
Santiago, Chile – FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu visited FAO’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean on Tuesday, and held a hybrid town hall meeting with all FAO staff in the region.
During the town hall, he spoke about the results of the 37th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the need to work as ONE FAO to address the many challenges facing regional food security and to further the Four Betters - better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all, leaving no one behind - that guide the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 in line with the region specific conditions.
“I arrived for the first time to this region when I was a young scientist of 22 years of age. I worked in the mountains and the valleys of Peru. It feels like destiny that from the early part of my career, I had first-hand experience of your culture,” Qu said.
The Director-General spoke about the successes of the FAO Regional Conference, held in Quito, Ecuador, and which recorded a historically high level of participation of ministers and other senior representatives.
“We wanted the region to take full ownership of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, and to identify the ways in which it could become deeply rooted in the particular conditions and needs of Latin America and the Caribbean,” the Director-General said.
Qu made special reference to the important role played in this Regional Conference by the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Caribbean Community: “It is key to ensure that we hear the voice of SIDS,” he noted.
Vulnerable countries are the ones that need FAO the most and one of the great virtues of international institutions like FAO is that all countries meet on equal terms, Qu said.
The Director-General praised the organization of the Regional Conference and its delivery, and congratulated everyone involved, with special mention to the host country of Ecuador: “The Regional Conference was particularly successful in political terms, because it is not a technical meeting. The Conference showed that there is global solidarity and engagement between countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. We have to get Members on board.”
The Director-General called on all FAO staff to adapt at a local level the Four Betters that guide the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31: “You will find many opportunities at a local level,” he said.
He also reminded FAO staff of the great challenges that the region faces: “The pandemic and its impacts on poverty, hunger and food insecurity and malnutrition, rising food and fertilizer prices, and, of course, climate change”.
The Director-General stressed that FAO is a global Organization: “You must contribute together, be open and willing to learn from each other. Remember, 2022 is a year that will require extraordinary efforts, and we must achieve extraordinary results. We have to do more and we have to do better.”