FAO and Rabobank explore new areas of cooperation

4 February 2020, Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met today with Rabobank delegation led by Suzanne van Tilburg, the Dutch bank’s Global Head Corporate Relations.

The visit followed the recent meeting between the Director-General and Wiebe Draijen, CEO Rabobank, and Berry Marttin, Member of the Managing Board of Rabobank, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Building on the productive partnership over the past few years, the parties discussed concrete opportunities to expand their collaboration with specific focus on food systems, innovation and knowledge transfer.

In 2013, FAO began its partnership with Rabobank Foundation - a corporate foundation funded by the Rabobank Group - by collaborating on three projects in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya aiming at improving smallholder farmers' incomes, access to financial tools and ability to invest in more efficient production of food crops.

The two institutions also touched upon joint efforts in such areas as reducing deforestation, improving access to data and financial instruments for smallholder farmers and preventing food loss.

The talks were fully aligned with the Director-General’s vision to forge strategic partnerships with the private sectors and implement a new results-oriented business model at FAO.

During the meeting, the head of delegation also welcomed FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative which aims to create "matchmaking" between donors and recipients to support tailor-made, country-led, targeted efforts to assist vulnerable people in the developing countries.