FAO Director-General in New York for high-level meetings

On 14 November, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu visited the United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ) to have a series of bilateral meetings on the state of food insecurity, rural poverty and agricultural sustainability around the world.

Qu began his day by participating in a meeting with the Principals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group in which they exchanged views on the reform of the United Nations (UN) system, and discussed ways of bolstering their collaboration for humanitarian and development interventions to accelerate progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In the afternoon, Qu met with the President of the 74th Session of UNGA Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. Qu expressed his eagerness to continue his collaboration with Muhammad-Bande, focusing especially on the modernization of agriculture in developing countries so as to reinforce their fight against poverty and hunger.

Qu’s day at the UNHQ concluded in a meeting with Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. The FAO Director-General briefed Mohammed on his first 100 days in office as well as on the implementation of the Hand-in-Hand initiative, which enables partnerships between countries with high poverty and hunger rates and developed countries. The initiative has received strong support from FAO's Member States as well as the private sector, academia, and non-profit foundations.

Before leaving the United Nations, Qu also sat down for an exclusive interview with UN News.

Today, the FAO Director-General participated in the UN System Chief Executive Board for Coordination meeting, chaired by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.