Director-General meets with head of China’s CIDCA development agency

21 November 2019, Beijing- FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met with the head of CIDCA, China’s development and cooperation agency, during his visit to Beijing.

Wang Xiaotao, Chairperson of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), noted it was their second bilateral meeting after an earlier rendezvous in Rome, underscoring his agency’s intent to identify larger-scale, better-targeted and more-synergized and systematic programs capable of generating profound and long-term positive impacts.

The plan is for such an iconic programme to draw synergies from CIDCA, from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and from FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme, as part of an integrated package of solutions in support of local food-system development.

The Director-General commended the vision, noting in particular that the proposal to engage the three Rome-based agencies from the beginning of the planning and programming phase would maximize potential synergies and avoid fragmentation and duplication of work.

He also outlined to Wang some of the novel measures and internal reforms he has deployed since taking the helm at FAO on 1 August. These include prolonging maternity leaves, refining travel rules, job rotation adjustments and enhancing exchange and interactions with resident missions around the world.

Qu said he was confident that CIDCA would provide support and collaboration and prioritize Less-Developed Countries and Land-Locked Countries within the aegis of FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative.