Readout of the Director-General’s meeting with ZHAO Fengtao, Vice Chairperson of China’s International Development Cooperation Agency

Rome – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today had a meeting with ZHAO Fengtao, Vice Chairperson of China’s International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).

The Director-General appraised CIDCA for its’ continuous support and good cooperation, and stated as one of the founding members of FAO, China should provide more support to FAO’s initiatives and programmes.

The Vice Chairperson thanked the Director-General for the meeting and conveyed the greetings from LUO Zhaohui, the Chairperson of CIDCA. He expressed the strong desire to deepen the cooperation with FAO under the Global Development Initiative (GDI), under which CIDCA is leading five deliverables. He informed that currently, a Global Development Project Pool has been established and is open to all partners to apply. The South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund has been updated to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund of USD4 billion; and a Global Development Forum will be held in the mid-2023. Furthermore,  a training project has been set up with the aim of training 100,000 people; and a Global Knowledge Network for Development has attracted 96 Countries to participate in it and has announced 100 projects.

The Director-General commended CIDCA’s commitments and efforts on promoting international cooperation, especially in poverty alleviation, food security, climate change and green development, which align with FAO’s main mandate and priorities. He reiterated that funds channeled through FAO could have a multiplying effect. The Director-General proposed to design integration projects through volunteer contributions.

The two further discussed strengthening cooperation through a concrete action plan.