Press Releases

1. Dr. Daniel Gustafson, Deputy Director-General of FAO, will visit Japan from Sunday, January 28 to Saturday, February 3, 2018.

2. During his stay in Japan, Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson will meet with government officials and other relevant stakeholders, and participate in the following events:

3. Japan places importance on the work of FAO being the leading UN specialized agency in the field of food and agriculture, and, as the second largest contributor of FAO’s assessed contributions, has been working to strengthen its relationship with FAO. Following the first Japan-FAO Annual Strategic Consultation held in January 2017, Director-General Graziano da Silva visited Japan in May 2017. The visit to Japan by Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson is expected to further advance the Japan-FAO relationship.

[Note 1] FAO
FAO (with its headquarters in Rome) is the UN specialized agency in food and agriculture established in 1945, and has a membership of 194 Member Nations (Japan joined in 1951), 2 Associate Members and 1 Member Organization (the EU). FAO aims to contribute towards an expanding world economy and ensuring humanity’s freedom from hunger, including through the development of international standards in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, collection, analysis and dissemination of data and statistics, provision of international fora and technical cooperation in developing countries.

[Note 2] Dr. Daniel Gustafson, Deputy Director-General of FAO
Dr. Daniel Gustafson, having served as Director of FAO’s Office of Support to Decentralization (OSD) and Deputy Director-General (Operations), took up office of FAO Deputy Director-General (Programme) in December 2016. He visited Japan for the first time in April 2016 on the occasion of G7 Niigata Agriculture Ministers' Meeting and also joined in the G7 food security working group. In January 2017, he participated in the first Japan-FAO Annual Strategic Consultation as the representative of FAO.

[Note 3] Public talk by Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson and job seminar
Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson will give a lecture on FAO’s contributions to global food security and sustainable development as well as its increasing engagement with Japan, which will be followed by career advice from the Deputy Director, Partnerships and South-South Cooperation Division of FAO. The audience will be students interested in development cooperation, food security and nutrition issues, and working for UN agencies.

[Note 4] 2nd Japan-FAO Annual Strategic Consultation
Following the first Japan-FAO Annual Strategic Consultation held at the headquarters of FAO in January 2017, the second Consultation will be convened to further advance the Japan-FAO relationship. Japanese representatives will be government officials from MOFA and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

[Note 5] Responsible Agriculture Investment (RAI)
RAI aims at adjusting and maximizing benefits to the governments of investment recipient countries, local people including small farmers and investors by alleviating negative impacts of agricultural investments as well as enhancing agricultural productions and improving productivity through promoting agricultural investments. The concept of ‘‘Responsible Agriculture Investment’’ was created under Japan’s initiative and its principles (Principles for responsible agricultural investment: PRAI) was formulated among related international organizations. Subsequently, the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, which is important for international society to promote agricultural investment in a responsible manner, were adopted at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) under the participation of various stakeholders.

[Note 6] Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)
GIAHS are designated by FAO and describe those systems where traditional agriculture, forestry and fisheries, shaped and adapted to society and the environment over generations, exist in integrity with the resulting culture, landscape and biodiversity. At present, 45 sites in 19 countries are designated as GIAHS, of which 9 sites are in Japan.

[Note 7] Food Loss and Waste Seminar - Let’s change it today! -
Approximately 16 million tonnes of food is discarded annually in Japan, equivalent to 20% of all the food consumed. The amount of food loss, the food that is still fit for human consumption, but is not consumed because it is left to spoil or discarded by retailers and consumers, is estimated to be 6.2 million tonnes in Japan and 1.3 billion tonnes in the world. Under such circumstances, Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson will explain the current situation regarding the world food loss and waste, and participants will consider the global issue.