FAO and Uzbekistan discuss ways to strengthen collaboration

4 November 2020, Rome - FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu and Minister for Agriculture of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev discussed ways to strengthen collaboration between the country and the UN Agency at a virtual meeting today.

The FAO Director-General expressed his appreciation to the Government of Uzbekistan for hosting the ongoing FAO Regional Conference for Europe this year. He noted that under extraordinary circumstances the country showed that a conference organized in a virtual format can result in a successful event with high numbers of participants and fruitful deliberations.

For his part, the Minister expressed a strong interest on behalf of his Government in engaging in the FAO Hand-in Hand Initiative providing a unique opportunity to maximize partnerships to end poverty and hunger.  

To this end, the Director-General suggested that Uzbekistan could consider using the Hand-in-Hand approach in building a new international platform with support of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) to facilitate knowledge exchange and attract investments across the whole region.