Director-General meets with Finland’s Under-Secretary of State for Development Policy Elina Kalkku

17 October 2019, Rome - FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met today with Elina Kalkku, Finland’s Under-Secretary for development policies, on the sidelines of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which is holding its 46th session this week at FAO headquarters.

Elina Kalkku, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in charge of Development Policy, Middle East and Africa, congratulated FAO for the World Food Day and thanked the Organization for hosting the CFS.

She expressed her appreciation for the decision of the Director-General on extending the duration of maternity leave and for his emphasis on merit-based recruitment at FAO.

The Director-General expressed his great appreciation for Finland’s continuous support to FAO over the years, noting that the country has been a steady partner with FAO since 1947.

FAO and Finland work together on the Forest Inventory for sustainable management of forest areas, an area of work that is steadily gaining in importance as a tool to mitigate and adapt to climate change. New proposals are currently being developed to support a more comprehensive Climate Change and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) approach with a strong emphasis on social and gender components, allowing for better assessment of synergies and trade-offs among different targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Director-General presented the new Hand in Hand initiative, which was welcomed by the Undersecretary of State. Finland supports fragile and less developed states in attaining better food security and promotes the sustainable management of natural resources.