Shavkat Mirziyoyev Meets FAO Director-General to Strengthen Strategic Partnership

Tashkent, The Gulf Observer: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan received the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Qu Dongyu, during his visit to Tashkent for the International High-Level Forum on Landlocked Developing Countries, focusing on food security and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Qu Dongyu expressed his deep gratitude to President Mirziyoyev for Uzbekistan’s support in successfully hosting the forum, which brought together delegations from over 30 countries to address critical issues in agriculture and food security for landlocked developing nations.

During the meeting, both leaders discussed ways to enhance the strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and FAO in effectively addressing modern challenges and threats. The successful results of joint cooperation in recent years were highlighted, with the quality of the country cooperation program for the period up to 2025 improving twofold. A total of 34 projects are currently in active implementation, with seven new initiatives launched in the past year across agriculture, school nutrition, veterinary medicine, agrochemistry, and other sectors.

President Mirziyoyev and Qu Dongyu underscored the importance of preparing and adopting a new five-year partnership program. They also focused on advancing digitalization in the agro-industrial complex, fostering the exchange of knowledge and innovations, and attracting investment to boost land fertility, grow and process organic agricultural products, modernize irrigation systems, and establish modern clusters and logistics centers. The importance of research collaboration was also emphasized.

Both parties exchanged views on the global and regional situation regarding food security, reaffirming their commitment to joint efforts in ensuring sustainable development in the agricultural sector and addressing the pressing needs of landlocked developing countries.