FAO Director-General meets the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, in Dublin

Dublin - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, today met Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, in Dublin to discuss pathways to agrifood systems transformation.

The President mentioned that we are experiencing challenging times due to the impact of a range of issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine. He expressed the urgent need to introduce the new paradigm for agrifood systems, to create more equal distribution systems, a sustainable economy and to find more ecological and social solutions.

The Director-General thanked the President for receiving him in Ireland and recalled their bilateral meeting in Rome in September 2021. He commended Ireland for the excellent transformation that the country went through in making their agrifood systems more modern and productive, while maintaining traditional values and safeguarding its sustainability.

They agreed on the importance of local and indigenous knowledge, providing better nutrition with low climate impact, as well as the importance of making farming more attractive and accessible, especially for women and youth.

The President paid tribute to the importance of the work of FAO in these challenging times where the Sustainable Development Goal 2 has become more difficult to reach. He further underlined the important role of FAO in providing thorough analysis of the challenges and opportunities in transforming agrifood systems.

The Director-General further underlined the need for more investments in agrifood systems and rural areas.  

Both concurred that holistic design and right models looking at all aspects of sustainability, with a special focus on education are needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.