Read-out of the FAO Director-General’s meeting with Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence of Ireland

Dublin - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu met Simon Coveney Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence for Ireland.

The Minister welcomed the Director-General to Ireland and mentioned that learning from history’s tragic lessons and with the application of science and innovation, today Ireland not only produces enough food to feed its population, but also exports a big portion of agri-products to the rest of the world.

He expressed his concern about the war in Ukraine and underlined the important role of FAO to help mitigate the impact of high food prices and the difficulties faced by food importing countries, which could result in social and security issues. Ireland will consistently support FAO and the Director-General by sharing Ireland’s expertise and experiences and by actively participating in FAO’s initiatives and programmes.

The Director-General commended Ireland for its successful agrifood systems transformation which has enriched the country with dynamism and vitality. He underlined the significance of the four betters of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, as well as the FAO Science and Innovation strategy and the FAO Strategy on Climate Change currently under development.

The Director-General called on the international community to contribute more to FAO’s effort in tackling the challenging situation of food insecurity and recalled his Security Council briefing on 19 May, where he said that time is short, and the situation is dire, outlining the path to successful transformation of agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.

He concluded by saying that 52 countries have already joined the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which offers a good platform for further collaboration and experience-sharing between Ireland and the developing countries.