ISLAMABAD        -        The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Qu Dongyu will be arriving in Pakistan on a three-day state visit on Friday as part of his vision to further strengthen the years’ long extraordinary collaboration of the country and FAO. During his visit, the Director General, FAO will call on the Prime Minister of Pakistan besides meeting with Federal Minister of Food Security and Research and other high-level officials, representatives from the private sector, youth representatives, academia, civil society and resource partners to apprise them of FAO’s work globally and in Pakistan, focusing on Zero hunger and Food Security in the context of the global climate change scenario. The Director-General will also travel to rural Punjab to meet with small-holder farmers who are most at risk from natural disasters, the UN information center said.

Qu Dongyu, a former Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, elected as FAO Director-General in June 2019, has stressed the crucial role that FAO, which has 194 member states, can play in addressing key global challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals for all.

The priority challenges requiring urgent attention remain; the increasing rates of hunger and malnutrition, climate change-related risks to agriculture, ongoing natural resource depletion and environmental pollution and the growing spread of trans-boundary animal and plant pests and diseases.