Read-out of the bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil, Tereza Cristina

28 July 2021, Rome - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of Brazil, Tereza Cristina, today had a meeting in which they talked about the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 in September, as well as the importance of promoting a balanced approach in the transformation of agri-food systems.

The Minister referred to the possible outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit and the importance of follow-up actions, taking into consideration the diversity and singularity of regions and countries. She noted that the South American region comprised many food producing countries which have an important role to ensure global food security.

The Director-General said that the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit has been useful for countries and other stakeholders to start discussing and presenting their views on how to transform agri-food systems, to make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, for better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. He stressed that promoting innovation is key to increasing production with less environmental impacts.

He agreed with the Minister on the importance of seeking balance and consensus in decision-making, and referred to the recently endorsed FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031.