Read-out of the FAO Director-General’s meeting with Ambassador Michele J. Sison, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, US Department of State (2022)

New York - Director-General QU Dongyu and Ambassador Michele J. Sison, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs met and discussed the longstanding partnership between FAO and the United States of America. The Assistant Secretary was joined at the meeting by Ramin Toloui, Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs, US Department of State; Ambassador Cindy McCain, US Permanent Representative to the UN Agencies in Rome; and Dr Cary Fowler, Special Envoy for Global Food Security, Office of Global Food Security, US Department of State.

The Director-General thanked the Assistant Secretary for the United States of America’s long-term commitment and ongoing support to FAO. He acknowledged FAO’s roots in North America – recalling that almost 80 years have passed since the first United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture was held in Hot Springs, Virginia in May 1943, which led to the establishment of FAO.

During the meeting the Director-General and the Under Secretary discussed the global food crisis, and touched upon various areas requiring attention moving forward over the coming months and years. 

Among other matters, they discussed: water issues, including water scarcity and integrated water management; soil mapping, which is crucial to improving agricultural productivity and reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers; food availability, food accessibility and food affordability, and those countries that will be most affected; the Food Import Finance Facility; the need to increase fertilizer efficiency, and its availability, accessibility and affordability; the need for more improved seed varieties; post-harvest processing to tackle food losses and waste; One Health; and soil, plant and animal health.

The Assistant Secretary also highlighted that she recently visited the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, located in Vienna, Austria, and was very impressed by the work undertaken by the Centre. For his part, the Director-General noted his intent to further strengthen the Centre and eventually invite other partners to engage with the work of the Centre.

Finally, the Assistant Secretary reiterated the importance of the Management and Administration Review of FAO by the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations.