Bilateral meeting with Mr Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan

Milan - FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, and Mr Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan, met on the margins of the Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting taking place in Milan from 4-7 May.

The Director-General appreciated the support provided by the Government of Italy to the work of FAO, noting the importance of Italy as the Organization’s host country because of its significant agriculture sector and a strong food culture, and conveyed his hope that Italy could provide a bridge between east and west ensuring good food for all.

The Director-General expressed his appreciation in particular for the work undertaken by the Mayor of Milan in the context of urban agrifood systems, as well as for the leadership provided through the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. In this regard, the Director-General also referred to key FAO initiatives such as the Green Cities and the One Country and One Priority Product (OCOP), which provided important platforms to advance work in this area. 

The Director-General also referred to the celebrations to mark FAO’s 80th anniversary this year, including the inauguration of the FAO Museum and Network in October during the annual World Food Forum to be held from 14 to 18 October to coincide with World Food Day on 16 October, which marks FAO’s birthday. The Museum will provide a space to bring together culture, food culture, history and science through a global perspective.

Mayor Sala commended the Director-General for his efforts and provided an overview of the work being carried out by the Milan municipality, especially on urban agrifood systems and at schools, with a strong emphasis on children’s education. He noted that the FAO Green Cities Initiative represented a promising entry point for closer collaboration between the Municipality of Milan and FAO, especially in the area of sustainable urban development.

Mayor Sala emphasized the importance of cities also benefiting from the transformation of agrifood systems as currently the city of Milan was facing problems with food quality, which required educating citizens and the consumers. The Mayor further informed that this was a key focus for the city of Milan, building on the achievements of Expo Milan 2015 with regard to food loss and waste, noting the Expo would be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Mayor Sala further emphasized the importance of private sector engagement, together with a strong commitment towards social responsibility. He noted however that funding remained a key challenge for Milan in advancing its agrifood projects, and welcomed discussions on mechanisms to support implementation.

The Director-General agreed on the need to strengthen collaboration with the private sector globally, especially to improve the UN system business model to make it more efficient and effective. Both agreed to work together to strengthen collaboration at the World Food Forum in October 2025 to, among others, bring together the network of cities under the overall framework of the FAO Roadmap to Achieve SDG2 without Breaching 1.5C Threshold.