Readout of the FAO Director-General’s bilateral meeting with H.E. WANG Dongwei, Vice Minister for Finance of China

Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today met H.E. WANG Dongwei, Vice Minister for Finance of China, ahead of the 46th session of the Governing Council of IFAD being held here this week.

The Director-General provided an overview of the history of FAO and expressed appreciation to China for its continuous support to the work of the Organization.

Vice Minister Wang thanked the Director-General for the meeting and praised him for the extraordinary achievements, especially over the past three years when the world was facing the COVID-19 pandemic. He further expressed his appreciation to the Director-General for effectively leading the Organization in providing support to Members in overcoming difficulties, addressing challenges and finding solutions to several global issues. 

Vice Minister Wang also expressed the willingness to further strengthen the cooperation with FAO, especially in the field of rural development, poverty alleviation and green development. The Director-General referred to the key FAO initiatives such as the Hand-in-Hand and 1000 Digital Villages, among others, which provided the opportunity for this collaboration. The Director-General further encouraged the Chinese government to increase their voluntary contributions to FAO to enable the Organization to do even more and better together.

The two also discussed strengthening collaboration through South-South and Triangular Cooperation to achieve global food security and the transformation of global agrifood systems.