FAO Director-General pays a visit to Japan to strengthen collaboration for improving global food security

Tokyo – Before participating in the G7 Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), paid a visit to Japan during which he met with H.E. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Tetsuro Nomura, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

During his meeting with Minister Nomura, the Director-General thanked the Japanese government’s efforts towards raising the importance of food security on the G7 agenda. The Minister commended FAO for its long-standing contributions as the leading UN specialized technical agency in providing information, data and analysis on the global food security situation. The Minister stressed the importance for FAO to continue these vital contributions, especially during the G7 Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting.  

The Director-General briefed the Minister on a broad range of challenges facing global food security, including the COVID-19 pandemic, disruption of international supply chains, and the impacts of the climate crisis and ongoing conflicts around the world on global markets and overall macroeconomic conditions, which all make food and agriculture issues ever more important. 

The Minister further expressed his expectations for FAO's role in addressing these challenges. The Director-General emphasized that agriculture is important not only for the G7 countries, but also for the whole world, including the developing countries. Keeping the market open, empowering women and youth, reducing food loss and waste are crucial for achieving the SDGs, in particular SDG1 (No Poverty) and SDG2 (Zero Hunger). The two sides also exchanged views on directions and solutions for enhancing agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner.

In the meeting with Minister Hayashi, the Director-General appreciated the Minister’s commitments to global food security, and noted that in 2022 Japan ranked 3rd among FAO’s resource partners for assessed contributions. Japan was also one of the top ten contributors to FAO’s emergency and resilience programme in 2022. This year so far, the Japanese government has announced a generous and time-critical contribution of USD 34.4 million to help boost the food security and nutrition of people in emergency settings in many vulnerable regions of the world. 

Minister Hayashi emphasized the importance of food security and announced the government’s decision to establish a new Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Rome in January 2024. Dr QU welcomed Japan’s decision and committed to further enhance the mutual cooperation in the years to come. The Director-General encouraged Japan to share its experience in agrifood systems transformation, enabling policies of supporting small farmers, science and innovation, agricultural financing and insurance. 

During his visit to Japan, the Director-General also visited Yokohama City Hohubu (North) Sludge Treatment Plant Center, a small-scale agricultural field in the midst of the Yokohama urban area, as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market.