Director-General meets ECOSOC President Juul

12 February 2020, New York - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met with Mona Juul, the president of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in New York today for discussions on how to bolster agriculture and food security and nutrition to assure its contributions to a better world. 

Farmers are at the center of food security and nutrition but at the same time they face enormous challenges and risks, the Director-General said. 

Digital challenges are central to reduce those challenges and risks, by increasing access to markets and by bringing together value chains integrally linking farms to consumers. 

Juul noted that a large share of the food the world needs globally comes from the sea. 

Qu noted FAO’s expertise in fisheries and aquaculture, and indicated the significant role of the latter in making fisheries sustainable. 

He also asked for the President’s support with the launch of FAO’s benchmark report, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, at the UN’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, and introduced FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative and That initiative aims to redress the slow implementation until now of the Sustainable Development Agenda, the Director-General said, pointing to the FAO-led EUR83 million project in Papua New Guinea as a pilot case for moving faster towards impacts.