UNB :
Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), has highly appreciated the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in attaining food security for 165 million people of Bangladesh despite being one of the top 10 most populous countries in the world.
He shared his deep appreciation during a ceremony marking the presentation of Letter of Credence by Md Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh Ambassador to Italy, accrediting him as the Permanent Representative to FAO held in Rome recently.
“We can learn a lot from Bangladesh because their solutions are very economic, easy to adapt,” said the FAO Director-General.
Ambassador and PR Ahsan thanked DG Dongyu for receiving the credentials and also for sharing his candid analysis on recent attainments of Bangladesh.
He assured fullest support to the leadership of the DG to make the organisation more efficient, transparent and inclusive.
Recognising FAO’s valuable contributions to Bangladesh on food and nutrition security, food safety, agro environment, small holders farm productivity and income increase over the 40 years.
through various programmes/projects and even during the challenging period of Covid-19, Ambassador Ahsan appreciated FAO for their active support to develop the agriculture sector transformation plan in Bangladesh.
While thanking the Director-General to nominate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the Co-chair of the “One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)”, Ambassador Ahsan underlined the unique position of Bangladesh to play a leading role regionally in raising awareness and action to address AMR.
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh also briefed the Director-General about the burden Bangladesh has been bearing for the last 4 years by giving shelter to 1.1 million forcefully displaced Myanmar nationals (Rohingyas) on humanitarian ground and deeply appreciated FAO for supporting people in Cox’s Bazar to improve their livelihood and boost agricultural productions, assisting small holder farmers for their increased income and capacity development.
Mentioning about the 36th Asia Pacific FAO Regional Conference (APRC) scheduled for 8-11 March 2022 in Bangladesh, the Permanent Representative invited the Director-General which he accepted.
The event, held on a zoom platform, ended with the reiteration of assurances by both Bangladesh and FAO to work together closely in the coming days to eradicate poverty and hunger around the globe.
Manash Mitra, Economic Counsellor and Alternate Permanent Representative to FAO and Sikder Mohammad Ashrafur Rahman, Counsellor and Head of Chancery, were present on the occasion.
