EU, FAO to Increase Joint Efforts to Transform Agri-Food Systems

Brussels: The European Union (EU) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have agreed to increase joint efforts to transform agri-food systems, in order to make them more inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable.
 
The FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and EU Commissioners for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen; for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides; and for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, spoke at the launch of the 2021 EU-FAO Strategic Dialogue.
 
They also exchanged views on global challenges related to the fight against hunger and all forms of malnutrition, the need to preserve biodiversity and natural resources, as well as the importance of food safety and the One-Health approach for the prevention of pandemics.

"In the context of the global covid-19 pandemic, more and more people are facing growing food insecurity. This is a complex issue and we will continue working on the world stage to tackle the root causes. Our longstanding partnership with the FAO is critical to help us address global challenges. I welcome our continued close cooperation on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, biodiversity, food security, food crises and food safety," EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said in a press release on Thursday.
 
The meeting valued the bold steps the EU has taken with its Green Deal and especially towards sustainable food systems with the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, by keeping this essential transformation at the heart of its core policies.
 
Participants also acknowledged the new FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031 as a clear path to sustainably transform agri-food systems, making them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
 
The meeting looked forward to the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit in New York in September and the Pre-Summit in Rome in July, which will aim to spur transformative changes in the way the world produces and handles food.
 
"We underscore our continued determination to defeat hunger and poverty and to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through this Strategic Dialogue, we are entering into a new chapter of our relationship marked by the urgency to act in a coordinated manner to support the much needed agri-food systems transformation," FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said.

 
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