In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has opened a new Representation Office in the Cambodian capital to build on its long history of cooperation, FAO announced today.

Cambodia joined FAO as a Member Nation in 1950. FAO opened its first full Representation Office in Phnom Penh in 1994. However, the Organization had been actively working in collaboration with its Member since 1979 to serve the needs of the Cambodian people.

During these years, FAO has provided assistance to support the implementation of the country’s national development priorities, through both emergency and technical support, in many areas including increasing agricultural productivity and diversification, irrigation, animal production and health, management of fisheries and forestry resources, food security, food safety, and agri-food industry development.

The official opening of the brand-new FAO Representation Office took place today in the Ministry’s compound and in the presence of H.E. Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), and Jong-Jin Kim, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

“The location of this brand-new FAO Representation, located within the compound of MAFF, is emblematic of the close cooperation that our Representatives and FAO technical colleagues have been enjoying for many years with Ministry counterparts and others, and I am sure its presence will enable further fruitful interaction between us,” said Kim.

The inauguration, in addition to marking another historical milestone of strong partnership between FAO and Cambodia also indicates a strong willingness on the part of MAFF to collaborate with FAO well into the future.

“We have been working very hard with FAO and other partners from the very beginning and so the result we have today is the fruit from what we had planted. We have been partners for 70 years. Since (restoration) of peace and elections in 1993 and the return of FAO in 1994, many things have changed, and in a positive way,” said H.E Dith Tina, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). “We came from a society where hunger was a permanent threat, but today we come to an era where we talk about the needs of the market and how we can grow sustainably.”

Through this convenient working environment, the technical relationship between the FAO Representation and Cambodia will result in even stronger ties and foster future innovative collaborations, speakers said.

Projects valued at over USD 65 million set to commence implementation in 2023.

By the end of 2023, FAO Cambodia aims to have commenced the implementation of a range of new projects, in close collaboration with MAFF and other partners, with total funding of over USD 65 million – raising the total value of FAO Cambodia’s country portfolio to more than USD 120 million. That would represent an increase of 120 percent in FAO’s country portfolio, compared to the previous year.

New additions to FAO Cambodia’s country portfolio include the recently approved Green Climate Fund PEARL project (USD 43 million). Focused on enhancing local people’s fight against climate change, it will be the biggest project in the portfolio. Additionally, FAO anticipates receiving funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for livestock and land restoration activities, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for forestry, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD).

“At FAO Cambodia, we are very much looking forward to developing even greater collaboration with MAFF and other development partners. Backed by the support we receive from our FAO Regional Office in Bangkok and FAO headquarters in Rome, I am confident working in this new Representation we will do just that,” said Rebekah Bell, FAO Representative in Cambodia.  

Bell added that FAO in Cambodia stands ready to continue its support to Cambodia to assist the Royal Government of Cambodia of achieving its priorities by building even more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.