Cooperation and partnership

Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, and Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation) met today in a bid to chart paths to developing project of mutual interest and for joint implementation.

Rossotrudnichestvo is “keen to establish long-term cooperation with the FAO and its Moscow Liaison Office to elaborate development programs,” Yevgeny Primakov noted. Among the priority areas of partnership, various initiatives were mentioned, in particular, agri-food sector development projects in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and African countries, for instance Uganda. A trilateral memorandum is being prepared to facilitate progress in this direction, which will bring together the efforts of FAO, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, and partners in Uganda.

Projects popularizing the Russian language, which is also the FAO language, abroad could also be mutually beneficial, Oleg Kobiakov added, stressing that for this purpose it could be expedient to attract associations of graduates of Soviet and Russian universities. 

Joint actions can take place in the context of the FAO Hand-in-Hand initiative aimed to help the least developed countries to accelerate agriculture transformation and sustainable rural development to eradicate poverty (SDG 1) and eliminate hunger and all forms of malnutrition (SDG2).

FAO stands ready, noted Oleg Kobiakov, to suggest to Rossotrudnichestvo through the network of its 130 offices abroad, in particular in Africa, young people for scholarships in Russian agricultural universities financed by the Russian Government and administered by the Agency.

Mikhail Ermolov, Deputy Head of the Department for CIS Affairs, International Development and Integration Assistance (Rossotrudnichestvo), and Aghasi Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the FAO Moscow Office also took part in the meeting.