The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have signed today a cooperation agreement to promote smart agriculture and food safety in Northeast China.

Under the agreement, UNOPS and FAO will lay the foundation for bringing Mongolian beef and lamb into Jilin Province in Northeast China.  Such a venture supports and further develops livestock sectors of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China and Mongolia at a time when the supply of cattle and sheep outstrip local demand, resulting in plummeting prices that are unsustainable for herders.   This UN sister agency agreement initially focuses on a feasibility study and related actions, likely resulting in livestock imports into China that provide a welcome supply of protein via the UNOPS-supported food zone in Changchun City, the capital of Jilin Province.

 “We are eager to work with UNOPS and support its smart agriculture and food safety efforts in Northeast China. We expect this to be the first of several jointly implemented projects that will bring added value to our respective partners while contributing to global food security”,  said Vincent Martin, FAO representative in China, DPR Korea and Mongolia.

Director of the UNOPS China Operation Center Luo Xiang said: “By combining FAO’s global and regional expertise and its Mongolian connections in agriculture, and UNOPS’s strengths in project management and procurement, we are leveraging the best of our two agencies to serve even more people in need. I am quite pleased about this contribution agreement, the first between UNOPS China and a sister UN agency.”

UNOPS and the Changchun City government are building the Asia Pacific Smart Agriculture & Food Safety Industry Demonstration Zone (SAFS), a project begun in 2014 with far-reaching vision that extends into 2024 and well-beyond, helping to establish the region as a center for food safety, agricultural practice excellence, and healthy living.  Food suppliers that participate in this Zone will adhere to a Code of Practice that ensures global safety and health standards are met, thus producing safe, trusted food in a clean environment where business prospers.  By contributing to a national vision of food produced in China safe and trusted globally – a vision as important to the rest of the world as it is for China – the SAFS project supports at least half of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Food Safety Zone is one of three major projects UNOPS is managing in China.

FAO leads international efforts in achieving food and nutrition security for all. The added value that FAO shall bring to the established project on SAFS zone will be its strong technical expertise in the areas of food safety and quality, value chain, market and trade analysis, and beyond.