Terminology work is a valuable instrument to support the Organization's role in communications and public information and in creating a common corporate culture.

The increased demand for terminological tools from all sectors of FAO and its broader 'constituency': (translators, editors, national experts and decision makers, researchers, academics, the media, international organizations, etc.) as well as the will expressed by the governing bodies to strengthen the multilingual capabilities of the Organization reflect this role.

The increasing amount of multilingual information requires a sound terminology database, not only to provide the correct language equivalents, but especially to standardize terminology within the Organization and within the United Nations system as a whole.

In order to standardize and harmonize the vast quantity of terms used in FAO documents and publications, the Organization developed the terminology database FAOTERM.

The Corporate NAMES OF COUNTRIES database also aims at facilitating the consultation and harmonization of country names throughout the Organization.

This site also offers other Language Resources to users which include links to international terminology databases, references and language-specific sites.