Building on their lengthy collaboration, FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are aiming to further strengthen and develop their joint activities. The Joint FAO/IAEA Nuclear Technologies Division, operating since the 1960s, has now become a Centre and will continue its well-recognized and respected work whilst increasing synergy and expanding areas of common interest, in particular in relation to transboundary animal and plant diseases. A recent FAO story highlights a number of examples where FAO and IAEA have been working together to improve agriculture and food security. These include the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to rapidly detect livestock diseases in Belize, development of a drought-resistant groundnut variety in Sudan using mutation breeding and use of the sterile insect technique (SIT) in Ecuador to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly from its growing areas for three fruit species. See http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1390726/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.

12/04/2021