At the closing of the 163rd session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Council, the agency’s Director-General Qu Dongyu thanked Members for their support for the Biodiversity Cluster and for the creation of two new offices: the Office for Innovation; and the Office for Assisting Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries.

At the meeting, which took place from 2-6 December 2019, in Rome, Italy, the FAO executive body endorsed the Director-General’s proposals for adjustments to the agency’s organizational structure to enable it to better support SDG implementation.

Also in his remarks, Qu welcomed the “overwhelming” support expressed by the FAO Council for the new Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which will enable “matchmaking” between countries with the highest poverty and hunger rates and those countries most able to offer support. Since the initiative launched during the UN General Assembly in September 2019, Qu has presented it at approximately 150 bilateral meetings with government officials, the private sector, civil society and academia.

The meeting of the FAO Council also featured several side events, including on the International Year on Plant Health 2020. The Year is meant to raise awareness on how protecting plant health can contribute to ending hunger (SDG 2), reducing poverty (SDG 1), protecting the environment (SDG 15), and accelerating economic development (SDG 8). Also through the Year, FAO will highlight how preventing the spread of pests can save billions of dollars and support access to quality food. The agency will promote: sticking to international plant health regulations and standards; fighting pests and disease using environmentally-friendly methods; empowering plant protection organizations; and forming strategic partnerships with all relevant food system actors. [FAO Press Release]