Minister Han Changfu meets FAO Director-General in Rome
DATE:2014-10-15 SOURCE:Information Office, MOA
Minister Han Changfu visitedthe headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and held talks with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on Oct. 14, 2014.
At the meeting, Graziano welcomed Minister Han for his visit to the FAO, and congratulated China for its progress in agricultural development and the bumper harvest this year. Graziano spoke highly of the South-South Cooperation (SSC) projects under the framework of FAO Special Programme for Food Security, saying that with committed efforts from China and the FAO these projects have brought direct benefits to 65,0000 above farmers in developing countries.
Graziano also hailed the great contribution China has made to global action against hunger. The number of huger population reduced in China in the past two decades takes up more than half of the global total. The FAO is willing to have further cooperation with China in food security, and to expand cooperation into areas such as agricultural market information and agricultural heritage conservation on the basis of existing cooperation.
Minister Han spoke highly of the FAO''s role in promoting agricultural development and safeguarding food security across the world, and of the existing good cooperation between China and the FAO. He also briefed about the latest developments in food production and another bumper harvest this year in China.
Minister Han noted that despite of the commendable progress in global anti-poverty and anti-hunger efforts, poverty alleviation remains a formidable challenge worldwide. As a responsible country, China stands ready to have further cooperation with the FAO in this regard. China will work closely with the FAO in implementing activities set down in the Memorandum of Understanding between FAO and China on Strengthening Cooperation. China is willing to cement cooperation with the FAO, particularly on agricultural policy exchange, market information sharing, international standard-setting, SSC, human resource development, agricultural heritage conservation, support to FAO Representation in China, and agricultural development in least-developed countries.
Representative of the Permanent Representation of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture also attended the meeting.