Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC) Resource Partners Strategic Dialogue Opening Remarks
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
30/11/2022
Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC) Resource Partners Strategic Dialogue
Opening Remarks
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
30 November 2022
Dear Resource Partners,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues,
1. Today is the 4th time I am participating in the Strategic Dialogue of the FVC since I took office in 2019,
2. And I am pleased to welcome all our Resource Partners: Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
3. Thank you for your continued and much appreciated support.
4. Flexible funds like the FVC are essential to the work of FAO.
5. With flexible funding, FAO can better respond to the most pressing global challenges and accelerate the transition to more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems.
6. We are facing a wave of unprecedented, complex and overlapping challenges that affect everyone, everywhere - demonstrating how interconnected we all are on this same small planet.
7. We need to urgently focus on building resilience and recognize the value of enhancing cooperation in mitigating vulnerabilities and promoting peace.
8. For this reason, the “triple nexus” - the humanitarian-development-peace nexus - should receive greater attention in FVC’s funding.
9. I just came back from the IASC meeting in Geneva where we discussed that the world economy will be facing even more challenges in the coming times, which will further impact our humanitarian and development work.
10. We must move towards an approach that combines emergency responses with medium and long-term interventions.
11. We need to be prepared, with a focus on anticipation and preparedness.
12. Some of our partners are already recognizing this important area of support in the FVC.
Dear Colleagues,
13. The challenges are many, our pool of financial resources is finite, and we are obliged to spread these resources too thin.
14. This is why your contribution of flexible voluntary resources is critical as they enable FAO to direct funding when and where it is needed most.
15. This also ensures that global priorities are addressed in a cost-effective, efficient and timely manner.
16. Looking to the future, agrifood systems remain at the centre of solutions to global challenges.
17. Through the delivery of innovative, systemic and transformative initiatives, we can simultaneously address food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, gender inequality, the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, energy shortage and the sustainable use of natural resources, among others.
18. In the last four years, your total contribution amounted to USD 67 million.
19. In the new phase, for the period 2022 to 2025, with your support, we are aiming to reach USD 100 million.
20. These funds will enable FAO to deliver on the 4 Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all – leaving no one behind!
21. In support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs.
22. I would like to thank you again for your continued support and generosity, in particular as we are planning for the next biennium.
23. During the Strategic Dialogue today, your advice, ideas and feedback will help us shape the FVC together going forward.
24. Thank you.