Read-out of the bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Director-General of the Federal Office for Agriculture of Switzerland, Christian Hofer

28 July 2021, Rome - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Director-General of the Federal Office for Agriculture of Switzerland, Christian Hofer, met to discuss further collaboration between FAO and Switzerland.

Mr Hofer underlined the importance of the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit and the active dialogues that took place in Rome and virtually in the past three days. He thanked the Director-General for offering a safe conference venue for the Pre-Summit to host these important discussions.

The Director-General recalled the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in January 2020, where he met with the President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin. Both appreciated the great dynamic of these dialogues in Davos, which helped to kickstart the process leading up to the UN Food Systems Summit.

The Director-General also thanked Mr Hofer for Switzerland’s’ support for the Innovation Awards that will be presented during the upcoming World Food Forum (WFF) in October this year. The award does not only acknowledge digital innovation, but also new or existing products or practices that are used in a specific context, to increase effectiveness, competitiveness and resilience. He added that the WFF event in October will provide the perfect venue for maximum visibility and make a big impact in technology and innovation. Mr Hofer underlined Switzerland’s long experience in technology and innovation, and they will use it as examples for the Awards.

Mr Hofer commended the Director General for the new FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031, and the important role of digitalization, science and innovation within FAO’s programme of work.

The Director-General underlined that the new FAO Strategic Framework highlighted the importance of a transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.  He also informed that the Action Plans for the 20 Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) and the Innovation Strategy would further guide the implementation of the new Framework.