Bilateral meeting with His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan

Rome - The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and H.E. Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, met in Rome to discuss ways to further strengthen collaboration between FAO and Tajikistan.

President Rahmon noted with appreciation the fruitful cooperation between his country and FAO, highlighting that ensuring food security and promoting food safety were among the main priorities for his country and FAO was a key partner in this regard. The President also noted that other areas of collaboration with FAO included One Health, sustainable production, digital agriculture, emergency response, migration, climate, biodiversity, and forestry.

President Rahmon stated that Tajikistan was committed to move to a green economy by 2037 and to reach 100 percent fully organic agricultural production, adding that currently the country was ranked sixth in the world regarding green energy with hydro power being the main source of energy. The President also emphasized the importance of water management for Tajikistan and referred to the challenge of water scarcity, noting that 60 percent of water resources in Central Asia originate in Tajikistan where 1 000 glaciers have melted over the past 40 years.

The Director-General thanked the President for Tajikistan’s continued cooperation and noted that Tajikistan was the first country in the region to join the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative.

The President also noted that Tajikistan was taking part in FAO’s One Country One Priority Product Initiative promoting the apricot value chain and presented the Director-General with a local apricot tree to be planted in the FAO Park at Villa Pamphilij in Rome.

Finally, the pair committed to continue working together towards the transformation of agrifood systems to make them more resilient to pressing global challenges related to the impacts of the climate crisis.