In Buenos Aires, FAO’s Director-General and President Alberto Fernández of Argentina discuss global food security and agrifood systems

Buenos Aires – FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, arrived on Sunday in Argentina for a two-day visit and was received by the President Alberto Fernández at the Olivos presidential palace.

During the meeting, the Director-General and President Fernández analyzed the increase in food prices worldwide as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine on world food security. In this context, they agreed that concerted efforts from the international community are urgently needed to promote global food security.

Qu highlighted the importance of transformation of agrifood systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, in order to achieve better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

President Fernández thanked the Director-General for FAO’s support to the implementation of the Argentina Without Hunger Plan, as well as the Organization’s collaboration with the REDD+ Results-Based Payments project approved in 2020 by the Green Climate Fund. The project is aimed at mitigating climate change by protecting, restoring and sustainably using forests in Argentina, as well as supporting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and livestock producers.

After the meeting, FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Julio Berdegué signed with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Argentina, Santiago Cafiero,  the FAO Country Programming Framework (CPF) for the period 2022-2025. This will function as a cooperation and strategic planning tool based on the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.