FAO News – June 7 2021

Figure: Ms. Marina Sereni, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Italy

The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Marina Sereni, had a virtual meeting to exchange on areas of cooperation between FAO and Italy, including the G20 presidency of Italy, the Food Coalition, the G20 Green Garden (G20GG) project, as well as the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit event that will be organised by Italy from 26 to 28 July 2021 in Rome.

The Director-General commended Deputy Minister Sereni for promoting the Food Coalition. The support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation played a significant role in encouraging all relevant actors to work with the Food Coalition through an open and multi-stakeholder process.

The Deputy Minister thanked the Director-General for his support of the Italian G20 Presidency and the close cooperation between FAO and Italy. FAO has been invited to contribute to most of the G20 Ministerial meetings.

The Director-General expressed his appreciation for the long tradition of Italy’s food culture and mentioned the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) as an excellent way to share the countries’ outstanding landscapes that combine agricultural biodiversity, food diversity, resilient ecosystems, and cultural heritage.

The Director-General mentioned that FAO is grateful for the support and high-level supervision provided for the G20 Green Garden (G20GG) project, to be inaugurated this week (10 June) during a joint ceremony co-organized with Italian institutions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The Director-General further mentioned that the G20 Green Garden will be symbolically important, but also a tangible legacy for generations to come.

Both expressed their appreciation for the close cooperation between FAO and the Summit Secretariat in the framework of the Steering Committee to ensure a successful Pre-Summit event (26-28 July, Rome). Ahead of the pre-Summit, FAO will host the Science Days on 8-9 July on behalf of the Summit’s Scientific Group. The focus will be on science and innovation for agri-food systems transformation.

The Director-General expressed his appreciation for Italy’s strong relation with FAO, the longstanding contribution to the Organization and for being its host country for 70 years.