Readout of the FAO Director-General’s bilateral meeting with European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni

Rome - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni today met and discussed close cooperation between FAO and the European Commission as well as possible solutions for supporting the countries most affected by the food crisis and the war in Ukraine.

The EU Commissioner expressed his appreciation for FAO and the Rome-based UN agencies for their mandate and efforts, and highlighted the strong commitment by the European Commission to increase support to vulnerable populations with food security being at the centre of the agenda.

The Director-General underlined the importance of targeting assistance and ensuring appropriate measures that would support smallholder farmers around the world highly impacted by the food crisis.

The FAO Policy Proposal on Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF), which has achieved recognition at different international fora, including the G20 Finance Ministers and has received support from the United Nations Secretary-General, was presented as a critical tool that could help economically vulnerable countries ease their immediate food import needs and costs.

The meeting further discussed the critical role that the International Financial Institutions could play in addressing the current challenges, and the financial commitment and the substantial support that European Commission has been providing.

The Director-General and the EU Commissioner agreed to further discuss the details of the Food Import Financing Facility and strengthen the existing excellent collaboration between FAO and the EU to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.