The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, held virtual talks with FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.
The talks confirmed the excellent state of relations between Italy and the FAO, which have always acted in synergy in the main multilateral forums to promote the issue of food security, especially in the coming year when Italy will be assuming the presidency of both the G20 and, in partnership with the United Kingdom, the Cop26.
A clear example of such efforts is the launch, on 5 November, of the Food Coalition, an initiative proposed by Italy and led by the FAO, for, amongst other things, mitigating the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on food security worldwide.
The two sides then exchanged opinions on the preparation of the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021, which will promote sustainable solutions for the agro-industrial supply chains towards the Zero Hunger objective and in line with the entire 2030 Agenda. Both parties agreed that the Rome-based agencies should play a central role in the organisation of the Summit and that this is another area in which to strengthen cooperation between Italy and the FAO.
