His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho reiterates strong commitment to FAO

28 October 2019, Rome – FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met today with H.M. King Letsie III of Lesotho to discuss ways to further collaborate on nutrition-sensitive issues. This was the first meeting of the Director-General with an African Head of State, in FAO headquarters.

King Letsie III kicked off the meeting by congratulating the Director-General on his election and wishing him every success. His Majesty expressed his confidence, that given Qu’s knowledge and past experience as Vice Minister of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China, he would certainly succeed in his tenure as Director-General of FAO.

Qu thanked the King and requested His Majesty to continue supporting the Organization as  its Special Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition, to which the King kindly agreed.

His Majesty reaffirmed his strong commitment to support the Director-General’s initiatives and stressed the importance of having developing and developed countries work together. He praised the Director-General for his vision and the actions taken in his first three months in office, and in particular for launching FAO’s new Hand-in-Hand initiative, which prioritizes targeted work that benefits people in the world’s most vulnerable regions including Small Island Developing States, Least Developed and Landlocked Countries.

The King also applauded Qu’s establishment 0f Youth and Women Committees at FAO. The Director-General, highlighted the importance for developing countries, in particular those in Africa, to step up efforts to modernize agriculture and make the sector more accessible and attractive to young people, including through digitalization.