Bilateral meeting with H.E. Brooke L. Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America

Rome – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu welcomed the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America, Brooke L. Rollins, to FAO headquarters and commended the longstanding and strong relationship that FAO enjoys with the US. He expressed his appreciation for America’s active and professional engagement in global agrifood conversations and for its push for international organizations to be more efficient and effective.

The Director-General briefed Secretary Rollins on the history and mandate of the Organization, in particular the Strategic Framework 2022-31and the numerous recent “firsts” at FAO, including the establishment of Youth and Women’s Committees, an Office of Youth and Women, an Office of Innovation and many others, welcoming all feedback from the US and all FAO Members on how to increase FAO’s impact.

Secretary Rollins thanked the Director-General for receiving her at FAO headquarters and said that she looked forward to learning more about FAO’s work and what a partnership between FAO and the United States of America could look like moving forward, ensuring that every US taxpayer dollar is well spent.

The Director-General and Secretary Rollins discussed the critical role of a science-based Codex Alimentarius and International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for open trade and growth, the importance of internationally agreed standards to improve productivity, efficiency and quality, and the integral role that big data and geospatial data play in achieving these objectives. They also discussed the significance of supporting smallholder farmers and how they are linked to FAO’s mandate.