Read-out of the bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General, and Liesje Schreinemacher, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Rome – The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, today met virtually with Liesje Schreinemacher, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.  

The Director-General expressed his appreciation for the longstanding support to FAO by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as one of the founding Members.

He also thanked the Minister for the long-term and innovative support for the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM), championed by the Netherlands, and recalled the long history of sharing knowledge and harnessing science and innovation for agrifood systems transformation between FAO and Wageningen University and Research. The institutions celebrated a renewed collaboration last month that started in the 1970s. In that respect, the Minister congratulated the Director-General for being the first Wageningen University and Research alumnus to become FAO Director-General. The Director-General recalled that the current WUR President Professor Louise O. Fresco was part of his PhD Defense Committee.

Minister Schreinemacher expressed her appreciation for the important role FAO plays in these challenging times due to COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine, and the consequent growing concerns about the impact on world food security. In that respect, she commended FAO for its important role in providing timely data and data analysis (for example through AMIS), policy advise, and for acting as an impartial convener.

The Director-General expressed his appreciation for the leading role the Netherlands plays in agrifood systems transformation, as well as their longstanding experience in creating multi-stakeholder partnerships that bring together the public sector, science, and private sector actors, and called upon the country to share their experience with Europe and the world.

The Director-General also mentioned his address to the UN Security Council on 19 May 2022, exactly 79 years after the Hot Springs, Virginia, meeting when US President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited 44 nations to the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture that gave birth to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The Minister commended FAO’s inclusive work on the development of the FAO Science and Innovation Strategy and the FAO Strategy on Climate Change, and emphasized that FAO can count on the support of the Netherlands for the successful implementation of both thematic strategies.

The pair agreed to continue to further strengthen their cooperation.