Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, H.E. Celinda Sosa

La Paz, Bolivia - The FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met with Her Excellency Celinda Sosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia, to discuss the importance of food security and collaboration between FAO and Bolivia.

The Minister highlighted FAO's contributions through programmes and projects to promote agricultural biodiversity and organic food production. She informed that the country had won international awards for its local coffee and wild cocoa and stated that in collaboration with FAO, a catalogue of exportable products had been released worldwide to open new international markets. 

The Director-General expressed his appreciation for the country's work in promoting sustainable agrifood systems based on its cultural values, traditions, and combination of ancestral practices with latest technology. He offered FAO's technical assistance to further accelerate the growth of the sector through science and innovation.

The Director-General and the Minister discussed the importance of the upcoming regional event in La Paz celebrating the International Year of Camelids 2024 and the Minister requested technical assistance to promote this sector, as llamas and alpacas are the only livelihood for many mountain villages that live above 3850 meters.

The Minister also indicated that together with FAO they looked forward to promoting Indigenous Peoples' biocentric restoration focused on the food and knowledge systems and cosmologies of Indigenous Peoples to allow the community to restore their territories in ways that are rooted in ancestral beliefs, knowledge, and practices

The Director-General and the Minister also discussed the role of women in agrifood systems and the value of their contribution to the agricultural sector overall. The pair concluded their meeting by agreeing to continue their cooperation and working together towards common objectives