Bilateral meeting with the Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy of the Netherlands, H.E. Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink
Rome - Today the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, met at FAO headquarters in Rome with H.E. Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink, Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the margins of the 43rd Session of the Conference.
The Director-General expressed his appreciation for the longstanding collaboration with the Netherlands, as well as with Wageningen University and Research (WUR), and for the continuous collaboration to identify innovate ways to leverage the knowledge of WUR as a hub, through sharing knowledge and harnessing science, technology and innovation for agrifood systems transformation.
The pair discussed the importance of an integrated approach for sustainable water and soil management and agreed that addressing the global water crisis requires concerted efforts and strategic actions. The Minister participated today in the Ministerial Roundtable on “Water Scarcity: Making water flow for people and planet”, and the pair also recalled the successful collaboration between FAO and the Kingdom of the Netherlands during the UN 2023 Water Conference.
The pair further discussed biodiversity and the impacts of the climate crisis. In that regard, the Director-General mentioned the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 and the strategies on Biodiversity, Science and Innovation and Climate Change, as well as underlining the importance of data that FAO makes available through the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial platform supporting countries with their data driven national agricultural strategies and investment plans.