Read-out of the bilateral meeting between FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and The Honourable Raychelle Awuor Omamo, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya

28 June 2021, Rome - The FAO Director-General QU Dongyu had a virtual meeting with The Honourable Raychelle Awuor Omamo, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya. The Director-General welcomed the Cabinet Secretary, who expressed her appreciation for the strong partnership with FAO.

The Honourable Omamo gave thanks and recognition to the Director-General for the support provided during the Desert Locust upsurge in 2020. She noted that through the cooperation and collaboration with FAO the Government of Kenya was able to manage the outbreak that was of a scale unseen in the last 75 years. The Cabinet Secretary noted that in addition to the Desert Locust crisis the country also faced the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as floods in 2020, which further aggravated the situation.

She underlined the need for continued FAO cooperation specifically for the Long-Term Strategy for Migratory Pests, which will equip the country with the necessary capacity to control Desert Locust and other migratory pests in the face of climate change. The Cabinet Secretary commended the Director-General for his vision, specifically with regard to the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life, which she noted are key also for Kenya’s Big Four agenda, that focuses on Food and Nutrition Security and Manufacturing as pillars.

The Director-General thanked the Cabinet Secretary and noted that the success of the collaboration was also due to the strong leadership of Kenya, which ensured an enabling collaborative environment. He reiterated the need for science-based approaches to achieve food security. The Director-General noted that Kenya would be key in providing experiences from agro digitization, e-commerce and youth leadership in achieving food and nutrition security.

The Cabinet Secretary agreed with the Director-General and was pleased to report the concert results achieved, also in regard to expanded partnerships, capacity development and knowledge sharing. She noted these would enable Kenya to be more self-sufficient in the production of agro inputs, as has been done in other sectors. The Director-General agreed and noted that this cooperation could then be replicated in other geographic areas.

The two also discussed the Green Cities High-Level Signing Ceremony, which took place on 21 June 2021 and where two Kenyan cities, namely Kisumu and Nairobi took part. The Director-General briefed the Cabinet Secretary on the initiative. He noted that the objective is to build cities suited for the future where all agro-food systems, nature and the environment would contribute to improve city lifestyles in addition to addressing urbanization and contribute to balanced sustainable cities.

The Director-General and the Cabinet Secretary ended the meeting by reiterating the strong partnership and the will for a continued solid cooperation between Kenya and FAO.