Bilateral meeting with the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Gilbert Houngbo

Geneva - The FAO Director-General met today in Geneva with the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Mr Gilbert Houngbo, during which the renewed FAO-ILO Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed.

The ILO Director-General welcomed the FAO Director-General and his delegation and stated that he valued the partnership between the two Organizations. Mr Houngbo emphasized the timely importance of renewing the MOU and stated he appreciated FAO’s support as one of the first organizations to have joined the Global Coalition for Social Justice, in particular with regard to the support provided through data and statistics, which are vital for informed decision making on social justice.

The FAO Director-General thanked Mr Houngbo and acknowledged the important collaboration between FAO and ILO. He emphasized that social justice should focus on rural areas, especially on rural women and youth, and highlighted that social justice usually comes through development. The Director-General further stated that with the signing of the MOU, the two organizations would deepen their collaboration in gender equality, social protection, transformation of agrifood systems and inclusive rural finance, among others.

The FAO Director-General also referred to the FAO 1000 Digital Villages Initiative and emphasized how it could enable rural development and social justice through the significant impact of digitalization on agriculture and farmers, especially women farmers and young farmers, to facilitate sustainable, well-functioning inclusive and efficient markets, and promote the integration of small-scale producers.

Mr Houngbo affirmed that the ILO looked forward to working closely with FAO on initiating a concrete action on digital villages and social justice.

The two agreed that as UN specialized agencies, both FAO and ILO contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda with their comparative advantages, and agreed to continue working together to speed up and scale up collaboration on rural development and social justice.