Bilateral meeting with the Minister for Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – His Excellency Girma Amente
27 July 2023, Rome: Director-General QU Dongyu and His Excellency Girma Amente, Minister for Agriculture of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, met on the margins of the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment taking place at FAO Headquarters from 24 to 26 July 2023.
The Minister congratulated the Director-General for his re-election for a second term and thanked him for his strong leadership and vision during his first term. He also thanked the Director-General for his ongoing support and strong partnership, including through the response to the Desert Locust outbreak, the food and nutrition office and the livestock sector, noting that additional support would be required for innovative technologies (to address soil acidity and salinity), the mechanization of production and post harvesting.
He proceeded to share with the Director-General the details of the country’s Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Food Systems to scale up the transformation of national agrifood systems. The Minister informed the Director-General of the Government’s attention to the agriculture sector, including the Green Legacy Initiative that aims to plant 25 billion seedlings across the country and increase private sector involvement to increase the agricultural sector value chains to attract youth through digitalization and innovation, in support of achieving food security.
The Director-General thanked the Minister and reiterated FAO’s commitment to support the country, and applauded the Minister for the priority given to innovation, youth and value addition, which he reiterated are key drivers to transform the agrifood systems.
The Director-General and the Minister shared ideas on ways to attract investments to support transformation, and the Director-General concluded by highlighting the need to make innovations accessible for smallholder farmers.
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