FAO and Palau discuss joint efforts related to the 2020 Our Ocean Conference

23 October 2019, Oslo – In talks today the President of Palau, Tommy Remengesau, informed FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu that his country will host the 2020 Our Ocean Conference, an event for which he hopes to count on FAO’s technical and organizational support.

The President said he very much valued the special emphasis Qu has placed on the wellbeing of the Small Island Development States, both during his election campaign and more recently with the launch of FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which prioritizes targeted work that benefits people in the world’s most vulnerable regions including small island states, least developed and landlocked countries.

The parties agreed on the need to maintain the issues facing Small Island Development States, including food security, healthy diets and food system transformation, high on the international agenda and discussed the possibility of concrete cooperation with regards to the 2020 Our Ocean Conference.