FAO and the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry convened a meeting of high-level officials from Central Asia to establish a joint Food Loss and Waste Strategy Committee mandated to oversee the development and implementation of the regional food loss and waste reduction programme.

The newly launched body will also support and monitor the implementation of food loss and waste reduction and management activities at country level and facilitate the engagement of other partners. Thus it will serve as a platform for cooperation and information and knowledge sharing for the participating countries.

The Committee is part of an FAO project representing a wider effort for the reduction of food loss and waste in the Central Asian countries that includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and is implemented within the framework of the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme for Agriculture.