Director-General leads first ever Treaty Ceremony reinforcing FAO’s normative role

Rome – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu presided over the Organization’s inaugural Treaty Ceremony, held on Monday at FAO headquarters in Rome. The event marked a significant milestone in celebrating Members’ legal and political commitment to FAO’s mandate and normative work.

The event, a first at FAO, took place on the margins of the 44th Session of the FAO Ministerial Conference (28 June – 4 July). It reflected the growing importance of international legal instruments in collectively addressing global agrifood challenges.

The Ceremony witnessed the formal deposit of legal instruments related to some of the 17 treaties adopted under Article XIV of the FAO Constitution. These treaties provide frameworks for cooperation in areas such as animal health, plant protection, fisheries, aquaculture, and desert locust control. They also help ensure that countries work together to address threats that transcend borders and require shared technical solutions.

“Each deposit is a powerful sovereign act, contributing to joint action to the benefit of people and the planet, in line with FAO’s mandate,” the Director-General said.

The event highlighted the FAO Director-General's role as the depository of these treaties, as well as the FAO's function as a partner supporting their implementation. Through its technical divisions and treaty secretariats, the Organization helps Members translate legal commitments into coordinated action — by strengthening institutional capacity, providing technical expertise, and fostering regional cooperation across sectors.

Legal frameworks for collective action

The treaties covered address both long-standing and emerging global challenges — from managing pest outbreaks to improving the governance of shared natural resources and trade-related sanitary measures.

“Let us renew our shared determination to fulfill FAO’s mandate through understanding, respect, collaboration, solidarity, and a shared responsibility for a better future for all,” the Director-General stated.

Ministers and Heads of Delegation took part in person, formally submitting instruments of ratification, accession, acceptance, and approval to the Director-General — reaffirming their countries’ commitment to rules-based international cooperation. Others were called to join the Director-General on the podium in recognition of their recent deposit. The high-level event helped to reinforce FAO’s role as a platform for legal and technical dialogue among nations.

New deposits and recognitions at the Ceremony

At the Ceremony, several Members formally deposited new legal instruments, further reinforcing global cooperation under FAO treaties:

• Congo: Joined the Convention on the International Commission on Poplars and Other Fast-Growing Trees Sustaining People and the Environment (IPC), bringing the number of Parties to 38.
• Solomon Islands: Accepted the 1983 amendment on mandatory contributions to the Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific Region (APPPC), bringing the number of Parties to 19, and became one of only five Members to have accepted all amendments from 1983 and 1999.
• Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Adhered to the Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas (the “Compliance Agreement”), bringing the total number of Parties to 47.
• United Republic of Tanzania: Deposited its instrument of accession to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA), which will enter into force for the country on 30 July 2025, making it the 84th Party.

In addition, the Ceremony recognized Members who had deposited instruments earlier in 2025:

• Saudi Arabia became the 80th Party to the PSMA on 5 February 2025.
• Ukraine became the 81st Party to the PSMA on 12 March 2025.
• People’s Republic of China became the 82nd Party to the PSMA on 16 April 2025.
• South Africa became the 154th Party to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture on 15 April 2025.
• Tuvalu was acknowledged as the fifth country to deposit an instrument in 2025 prior to the Ceremony.