FAO Director-General high-level meetings in New York

On 12 February 2020, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Qu Dongyu, visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York for a series of high-level meetings.

Qu began his day by participating in a joint breakfast meeting with Mark Lowcock, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. The meeting was hosted by Olof Skoog, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, and attended by representatives of the countries affected by the desert locust upsurge in East Africa, as well as by donors who have supported humanitarian relief efforts. Qu and Lowcock gave updates on the situation and urged Member States to provide immediate assistance so as to avert the outbreak of a humanitarian crisis.  

The FAO Director-General also met with Rudolph Michael Ten-Pow who chairs the Group of 77, the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the United Nations. The two men to discussed ways of using technologically innovative programmes to boost rural economy in developing countries.

Finally, Qu met with Mona Juul, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to explore potential collaborations for the upcoming High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The FAO Director-General and the ECOSOC President also engaged in discussions over their mutual belief in harnessing digital economy to drive sustainability in agriculture.