FAO ready to build support for Mali
11 February, Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today the UN agency was ready to support Mali in the growth and development of its agricultural sector when he met Mali’s President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, in Rome.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the 43rd Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), hosted at FAO headquarters where QU spoke about the “team effort” required to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as FAO worked with other UN agencies and partners.
Qu also spoke about the critical role played by FAO’s Investment Centre , which had helped to implement 2,250 investment operations across 170 countries.
President Keita said his government was investing 15 percent of its budget in the agriculture sector as farmers faced greater insecurity in a fragile environment. Qu congratulated the President for his efforts.
The Director-General emphasized that there were faour critical elements for growth and development: an enabling environment, investment, innovation and capacity development. He assured the President of FAO’s support in this regard.
Qu also highlighted the potential of the new Hand-in-Hand initiative, which focuses on tailor-made partnerships between donors and recipients for the world’s most vulnerable and noted that in Mali this could be applied to the cotton sector with potential support from donors.Mali is one of the C4 cotton countries along with Benin, Burkina Faso and Chad.
The President welcomed the initiative and agreed to explore the opportunity further.