FAO Headquarters, Rome, 23 June 2019
41st session of the FAO Conference
Today is a special day. Not only is it the election day of FAO, however, it is also an Olympic day. We at FAO pursue to be faster, higher and stronger.
Today is your day. Member Countries combine to make a new starting point of history.
Today is our day to marshal the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
First, I am very grateful to all Member Countries for your active participation, evaluation and conclusion. My thanks go to the other candidates who have accompanied me in this challenge, and this has prompted me to think over and to be better. Thank you for your strength, support and consolidation.
My thanks go to the other participants who are willing to inspire us a lot over how the future of FAO should be. I am very grateful to my Motherland as I would not be who I am without her 40 years of successful reform and opening up.
My appreciation goes to my team who have worked day and night with me for a common task and mission. I am also indebted to my family, my teachers and my colleagues both in China and abroad whose care, love and inspiration have always been with me along my journey.
Thank you all, working staff here at FAO, for your contribution to this successful election. Now that the election is over, the duties are on my shoulders. As the new FAO Direct-General elect, I will be committed to the original aspirations, mandates and missions of the Organization. I take my responsibilities under the supervision of the Conference and the Council in a real based approach. I will uphold the principles of fairness, openness, justice and transparency, remaining impartial and neutral.
I will make the full range of my efforts and my commitment, and I will lead all FAO staff to think for Member Countries, to work for the people and the farmers, to design bigger, be concrete and aim right.
Let us join hand in hand to build a dynamic FAO for a better world with successful achievements of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
