Meeting between FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and Permanent Representatives of the EU Group

Rome - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, today met at FAO headquarters in Rome with Permanent Representatives of the EU Group to discuss key priority areas for a sustainable future and food security for all.  

H.E. Ambassador Valkenburg, EU Permanent Representative to FAO, and Ambassador Jan Björklund, Permanent Representative of Sweden to FAO, provided opening remarks and presented the key EU priorities.  

During the interactive dialogue, the EU-FAO Strategic Dialogue was highlighted as an effective mechanism to discuss common priorities and objectives at the core of the partnership aimed towards transforming agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.    

The meeting also referred to the conclusions of the recently held EU Council session for an effective FAO to ensure a sustainable future and food security, including the key contribution that FAO can make in driving the transformation, FAO’s role in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, FAO’s role in the wider UN System, improved effectiveness and governance of FAO, and the cooperation between the EU and its Members States with FAO.

The Director-General thanked the EU and its Member States for the longstanding support to FAO and active partnership, and expressed his appreciation for the open dialogue.  

He underlined the importance of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, as well as the strategies on Climate Change, on Science and Innovation, on Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Agricultural Sectors, and on Private Sector Engagement. He further emphasized that to successfully implement these strategies endorsed by the FAO Governing Bodies, FAO continued to count on the support of the EU and its Member States in terms of capacity, ownership, and technical expertise. He also referred to how FAO can further improve efficiency, transparency and accountability through the digital FAO.