Press Releases

1. On January 24 (Tuesday), the Government of Japan held its first Japan-FAO Strategic Consultation meeting with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Japan was represented by Ms Misako Takahashi, Director of the Economic Security Division, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr Eiichi Mishima, Director for International Agricultural Organizations, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. FAO was represented by Mr Daniel Gustafson, Deputy Director-General (Programmes).

2. Looking back at many years of collaboration, Japan and FAO reaffirmed the importance of further advancing their strategic partnership to address major challenges and opportunities related to food security, nutrition, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as they move towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The two sides exchanged their views on how they could best collaborate in FAO’s work, particularly on specific issues, such as nutrition, responsible agricultural investment, partnerships with the private sector, fisheries, forestry and climate change, as well as FAO’s contribution to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process. The two sides also discussed how to further boost the visibility of the FAO’s mandate, work and achievements in Japan.

3. Japan and FAO confirmed to jointly take concrete actions to further increase the number of Japanese staff at FAO and meet its desired level.

4. Japan and FAO discussed various ways of advancing Japan-FAO partnership, including the possibility of the visit of FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, to Japan.

5. In recognition of the success of the first meeting, Japan and FAO decided to hold Strategic Consultation meetings in the future on an annual basis, to continue the strategic dialogue and to further strengthen the collaboration and partnership.