172nd Session of Council FAO PARTNERSHIP AWARD CEREMONY

172^nd Session of Council

FAO PARTNERSHIP AWARD CEREMONY

Statement

By

Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General

24 April 2023

                                              

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the FAO’s second Partnership Award ceremony. 

Today we are here to acknowledge the success of individuals and institutions that recognize the benefits of collaboration and teamwork to achieve a sustainable food secure future for all.

Creating partnerships is a way to leverage our collective strengths and abilities in an effective and strategic manner.

Partnerships serve to find innovative ways to do things by pooling diverse capacities and increasing creativity, and by bringing new resources to reach those left behind.

Collaboration with governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and international organizations, and all partners, is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda and ensuring the Four Betters – Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life - in line with FAO’s mandate for a world free from hunger.

The FAO Awards showcase successful projects and donors, and these fruitful efforts make FAO more valuable to Members, more attractive to donors, more engaging to partners, and more meaningful to its employees.

With only seven years to meet the SDGs, it is an important moment to showcase positive results and concrete ways in which we can work even better together.

Our challenge is to ensure that all people have access to affordable nutritious food.

We also need to accelerate efforts to transform global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, so that we can produce more with less – to ensure we can continue to feed all people in the world with less pressure on our natural resources and on our planet.  

We have the tools and commitments to achieve these goals, and partnerships are the way to make this happen faster.

We cannot do it alone, we need to work together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner to make it happen together.

Dear Friends,

This year’s awardees are individuals and institutions who are already working hard to achieve a sustainable and food secure world for all - they are the FAO Partnership Champions.

I would like to welcome the awardees, in particular those who have travelled from far to be here with us today to receive this prize.

Our first winner is Mr Khem Bahadur Pathak from the Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Limited in Nepal.

The second-place winner comes from Lebanon, Ms Lina Sarkis from the Al-Shouf Cedar Society.

Congratulations to both winners!

FAO is committed to continue working with all partners to leverage our expertise and experience to transform agrifood systems for a better, healthier and brighter future for all.

Thank you.