Meeting with His Excellency Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Morocco

Rabat - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, met today in Rabat with His Excellency Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Morocco on the margins of the 33rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC33).

The Prime Minister welcomed the Director-General and informed that the government of Morocco was pleased to be the host of the ARC33. He stated that Morocco was also pleased with the high level of participation of leadership from across Africa who had gathered Rabat to strategize on the path towards agrifood systems transformation.

The Prime Minister affirmed that as a leader in the region on agrifood systems transformation, Morocco was willing and ready to share its experiences and exchange knowledge through training with other countries in the region. He stated that FAO’s leadership as a specialized agency dealing with food security would also play a pivotal role in this cooperation and emphasized the need to triangular cooperation to ensure effective agrifood systems transformation.

The Prime Minister further highlighted that Morocco’s initiative for African Agriculture Adaptation to Climate Change (AAA) was a good example and should be used as a regional hub for knowledge sharing with African countries and reiterated the need for FAO’s continued support to this initiative.

The Director-General thanked the Prime Minister for the hospitality and praised the government for taking the lead in agrifood systems transformation in Africa. The Director-General agreed that tripartite cooperation between Morocco, FAO and African countries was needed to propel agrifood systems transformation in the region. The Director-General also noted that it would be useful for Morocco to apply the Land Use Strategy as it continues to progress on its development trajectory.

Both agreed to continue to work together towards agrifood systems transformation in Morocco and in the region.