FAO at the Timiryazev Academy: Boosting Cooperation with Leading Russian Agriscience Institution

Mutually interesting and promising areas of cooperation were discussed during a meeting between Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, Aghasi Harutyunyan, FAO Liaison Officer, and Academician Vladimir Trukhachev, Rector of the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy (RSAU – MTAA).

The parties confirmed readiness to work on a new Memorandum of Cooperation with RSAU to renew the previous two-year agreement successfully completed in 2019, compiling a list of specific areas of interaction and joint activities. They agreed to convene a joint task force meeting to that end in mid-2020.

The FAO invited the Academy to participate on a regular basis at the meetings of Organization’s Governing Bodies, especially Regional Conferences and Committee on Agriculture.

FAO Office Director and the RSAU Rector discussed in detail such areas of cooperation as the Academy’s participation in FAO’s Global Internship, Volunteers, and Fellows (IVF) Programme; attracting foreign students to study and take up internships at RSAU, especially fellowships for candidates from developing countries and countries with special needs, in particular form Central Asia and the Caucasus. FAO expressed hope that RSAU could lead the effort to identify prospective sites in Russia for the inclusion in FAO’s flagship Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) programme.

Special attention at the meeting was devoted to progress of the joint FAO-RSAU project of digitization of one of the world's largest collections of soil samples stored in the Williams Soil and Agronomic Museum at the Timiryazev Academy and the overall modernization of the Museum. During an energetic discussion with the project team in the Museum, it was agreed that the revamped exposition should open on the World Soil Day on 5 December 2020.