Readout of FAO Director-General QU Dongyu’s meeting with Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE), African Union Commission and Ibrahim Assane Mayak

28 July 2021, Rome - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu today met with Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE), African Union Commission and Ibrahim Assane Mayaki CEO, AUDA-NEPAD.

Commissioner Sacko thanked the Director-General for the longstanding partnership between the two organizations, and the joint efforts to support Africa. In particular, she underlined the achievements of 2020 during the pandemic through the FAO-AUC Taskforce on the impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition in Africa, which brought together the Ministers for Agriculture, Trade and Finance to provide policy guidance to support the African countries. Sacko also updated the Director-General on Regional Dialogues: ‘’African Food Systems’’ and the common Africa position submitted for the UN Food Systems Summit. 

The Director-General congratulated the Commissioner and noted the progress being made in Africa for the agri-food systems transformation. He went on to highlight that these common positions, in addition to that of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), are key in order to boost Intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services, and to advance the food security and nutrition agenda in the continent. 

CEO Mayaki confirmed AUDA-NEPADs support to FAO and expressed appreciation for the continued and fruitful collaboration, in particular with technical support provided to the African countries.

The three reiterated the importance of their strong collaboration and collective commitment to ensure that Africa realizes its full future potential.