Director-General meets President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in Baku

Baku - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, met with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on the margins of the high-level international conference Vision for the future: transition to digital agriculture, held in Baku.

The Director-General and the President discussed the importance of transforming agrifood systems to make them more inclusive, efficient and resilient to shocks. 

The President underlined the government's high priority on food security, particularly during the times of increased food prices. He pointed out that self-sufficiency is now equally important as the export promotion of agricultural products. The Director-General stated that Azerbaijan has a significant potential to gain self-sufficiency, given the attention the government pays to public investments in the development of agriculture and rural areas.

They also discussed the importance of digitalization and innovation for agriculture development. Qu travelled to Baku to attend the International Conference on Digital Agriculture organized by the Government of Azerbaijan with the support of FAO. The Director-General noted that Azerbaijan’s experience in digital agriculture could be shared with other FAO Members.

The Director-General praised the FAO-Azerbaijan collaboration. The President concluded the meeting by saying that he gave all the instructions for the continuation of the FAO-Azerbaijan partnership to benefit from FAO technical expertise and best practices to address both emerging agrifood systems challenges, including restoration of natural resources, and climate change impacts.