Highlighting a renewed global interest in agriculture, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is expanding its collaboration with FAO, a move aimed at broadening and deepening investment in agriculture in countries outside of the European Union.

The two institutions have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that seeks to foster investment operations in the field of agriculture, private sector development and value chains that promote both EIB's priorities and FAO's strategic objectives.

The FAO/EIB agreement, announced during the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, further marks the engagement of the EIB in the agribusiness sector and, for FAO, a partnership with the world's largest multilateral financial institution.

"This is a landmark opportunity for both of us to combine technical knowledge and financial capacity to engage private and public investors in eradicating hunger" said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, noting that ensuring enough global food supply for a growing population and making agrifood systems more sustainable would require robust investments in developing countries.

Given recent developments and the envisaged expansion of economic engagement of European countries with Iran, increased investment in agricultural rural development and food security in the country is becoming a salient issue which needs to be addressed.

"The need for more and better agricultural investment in Iran is becoming increasingly crucial in the light of the trends with witnessed over the past decades. With food demand on the rise due to a growing population, the country faces the challenges of higher demand for quality and safer food products whilst being confronted with resource constraints and environmental threats as well as adverse impacts of climate change. These trends evidence not only a greater demand for investment support for the agrifood sectors, but also an unequivocal need for an Investment Support Strategy that would assist in managing the complex policy processes in these sectors" noted the FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr.  Serge Nakouzi.

The FAO envoy added "As new investment actors enter the scene and we embark on the journey to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals that will be endorsed later this year as part of the post 2015 Development Agenda, it is important that we capitalise on the opportunity provided by the FAO/EIB agreement to strengthen investments in agrifood systems by engaging both the public and private sectors. Such investments will contribute towards the development of a strong, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector and reinvigorating further the role of this sector in the national economy".

The FAO Investment Centre has had longstanding strategic partnerships with international financial institutions (IFIs) for the past 70 years, driving investments in agricultural rural development. Recognised for its investment-related expertise and experiences and staffed by a high-quality team of staff, the Centre has led substantive expansion of the agriculture sector in numerous developing countries through the investment programmes it had formulated and implemented with IFIs.

Collaboration between FAO and EIB has equally been longstanding and exemplified through information-sharing platforms like 'EastAgri'. The FAO/EIB agreement which was signed recently will intensify cooperation between the Organization and the European Investment Bank in such areas as the joint analysis, planning and execution of investment operations. FAO's expertise in investment-related policies and project formulation for investment, together with EIB's access to international capital markets and prowess in devising robust investment operations, will reinforce the complementary capabilities of both entities and forge a significant partnership that should yield a tangible impact on strengthening agriculture, food security and rural development throughout the world.