Read-out of the bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock of Paraguay, Moisés Santiago Bertoni

28 July 2021, Rome - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock of Paraguay, Moisés Santiago Bertoni, had a bilateral meeting today in which they talked about the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 and how FAO can better support its Members in this process.

The Minister congratulated the Director-General for the recent changes in the Organization aimed at making FAO more modern and fit-for-purpose.

The Minister informed that he is the current president of the Southern Agricultural Council, formed by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, and that the Group is seeking a common position to participate in the discussions during the UN Food Systems Summit in a coordinated way.

The Minister further noted that Paraguay is a big food producer, and in this regard stressed that FAO should adopt a pragmatic approach to support its Members to face the challenges towards better production.

The Director-General recognized the common interests of the countries of the region, and noted that Paraguay, as a land-locked country, could benefit greatly from the Hand-in-Hand Initiative.

He mentioned how the project called PROEZA (Poverty, Reforestation, Climate Change and Energy), the first FAO project approved by the Green Climate Fund, could help Paraguay to transform its agri-food systems to make them more environment-friendly and more climate resilient.