Director-General QU Dongyu

Bilateral meeting with the Minister for Rural Development and Food of Greece, H.E. Eleftherios Avgenakis

13/11/2023

Rome - Today the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, met at FAO headquarters in Rome with H.E. Eleftherios Avgenakis, Minister for Rural Development and Food of Greece. 

The Director-General thanked Greece for their longstanding support to FAO as one of the founding Members of the Organization. He further indicated that Greece can widely share its knowledge related to its long agriculture tradition, heritage, and culture of Greece with other Members.

The Minister congratulated the Director-General with his re-election and wished him success with the important work of the Organization.

The pair discussed the importance of education, and science and innovation, to accelerate agrifood systems transformation and contribute to better life in rural areas.

The pair further discussed the importance of effective integrated water management. The Minister recalled the huge problems Greece recently had with floods, following Europe’s biggest ever wildfire this summer, which caused large destruction in the northeast of the country. The Minister further indicated that the most important area for agriculture suffered huge losses to livestock and agriculture production.

The Director-General recalled the Ministerial roundtables held during the 43rd Session of the FAO Conference in early July where integrated water resources management took center stage with discussions on how to tackle water shortages and scarcity, as well as floods, during the weeklong meeting of FAO’s highest governing body.

The pair also discussed collaboration and concrete joint action in the area of food security, and how to share experience related to climate adaptation, as well as the importance of strategic investments in agrifood systems.