FAO Director-General and Russian counterparts aim to step up partnership

In the framework of his two-day visit to Moscow as a guest of honour and keynote speaker at the International Agro-Industrial Forum on the sidelines of the 21st "Golden Autumn" Exhibition, the main agricultural forum held annually by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu conducted several high-profile meetings and negotiations with top level government officials of the Russian Federation.

The Director-General met with Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. It was the first bilateral meeting of an FAO Director-General with a Russian Prime Minister.

During talks, the Russian Prime Minister congratulated the FAO Director-General for his recent election and expressed support for his initiatives.

They discussed a number of issues of common interest, including the need for collective action at global level. The Russian Federation considers FAO’s role as key for ensuring food security and nutrition in the world.

The FAO Director-General presented the Organization’s new Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which was welcomed by the Russian Prime Minister.

In the course of the discussion with the Russian Minister for Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, Director-General and his counterpart spoke with appreciation of the current state and perspectives of cooperation. They noted as milestone achievements the opening of the FAO Moscow Liaison office in 2015, the 31st session of the FAO Regional conference for Europe held in Voronezh in 2018, and the gradual diversification of partnership.

The Russian side highlighted, in particular, the joint project on the sustainable use of soils. Voluntary guidelines for sustainable management of soil resources were developed. The World Soil Prize, named after the prominent Russian soil scientist Konstantin Glinka, was established. Russia fully supports the activities of the Global Soil Partnership at the expert and financial levels, and recognizes the effectiveness of this mechanism.

Among other promising joint projects, both sides pointed out to the pipeline project to combat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Since FMD is a transboundary disease, a regional approach is extremely important.

“It is safe to say that FAO in recent years has strengthened ties with relevant Russian ministries, departments, scientific institutions, news agencies and other organizations,” Patrushev stressed.

The Director-General and the Minister also agreed on the importance of knowledge sharing and capacity building through South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

The Director-General underscored Russia’s enormous expertise in many of the Organization’s technical areas, and expressed his gratitude for the longstanding support of the country to FAO.

Expanding cooperation within FAO’s sectoral priorities was one of the key issues addressed by Director-General Qu Dongyu during the meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin. Both sides stressed the importance of coordinated and collaborative efforts within multilateral systems in achieving the SDGs. 

FAO and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) support the engagement of Russian experts in implementing common goals within FAO’s mandate, in particular, the improvement of food quality, the sustainable management of soil resources, and the fight against resistance to antimicrobial agents.

FAO and MFA are committed to offering technical assistance in food security to countries going through post-crisis recovery. For instance, both sides discussed parameters of joint activities to implement the project to restore the agricultural livelihoods of farmers in Syria.

A wide array of issues related to food security and quality, risk assessment, including products containing GMOs, laboratory monitoring, and responding to threats to public health from AMR, contamination of food by chemicals and heavy metals, was discussed during the meeting of the Director-General with the Head of Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova.

Dr Qu and Dr Popova reviewed the implementation of a joint project aimed at combatting AMR in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) and Tajikistan. The project renders assistance to develop laboratory capacities, conduct comprehensive studies, and enhance and upgrade experts’ knowledge and expertise in beneficiary countries.

Taking into account the laboratory and scientific capacities of Rospotrebnadzor, the Director-General suggested a broader strategic partnership that would involve all the aspects of food safety and nutrition. This issue will be specifically addressed during the jointly organized International Conference “Food Safety and Risk Analysis” which will take place on 17-18 December 2019 in Moscow.