Bilateral meeting with H.E. Sergey Vershinin, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, together with H.E. Maxim Markovich, Deputy Minister of Agriculture

Rome - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, met with H.E. Sergey Vershinin, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, together with H.E. Maxim Markovich, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, on the sidelines of the 44th Session of the FAO Ministerial Conference, to discuss ways to strengthen collaboration between FAO and the Russian Federation.

Deputy Minister Vershinin congratulated the Director-General on FAO 80’s anniversary and reaffirmed the country’s support to the Director-General in his efforts to make the Organization more productive, more efficient and more transparent. He further reaffirmed that the Russian Government cherished the relationship with FAO and highlighted the importance to maintain the current funding level of the Organization, especially given the need to take decisive steps to accelerate progress towards achieving SDG2 (Zero Hunger) before 2030.

With Deputy Minister Markovich, the Director-General discussed the Government’s growing support for FAO's emergency and resilience programme, with a particular focus on safeguarding food security in the Middle East and East Africa. The Deputy Minister further reaffirmed the country’s commitment to work closely with FAO on zoonotic and transboundary diseases, and informed that the country intended to submit its first application for a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), namely Wild-hive Beekeeping in the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Discussions also included the Russian Federation’s contributions to FAO and new funding opportunities though projects that could specifically target countries in different regions.