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Russia: food security and nutrition will remain a top priority for G20 and G8 during Russian presidency

13 November 2012, Rome - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva met with Gennady Gatilov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The Deputy Minister welcomed the transformational change of the Organization being implemented under the Director-General and pledged his country's continued support to FAO reform.

Russia, which will be presiding over the G-20 in 2013 and the G-8 in 2014, is committed to keeping food and nutrition security high on the international agenda. In this regard, the Deputy Minister invited FAO to contribute its expertise and analytic capacity to the work of the Groups.

Graziano da Silva expressed FAO's continued support to the G20 and G8 on food security and nutrition and welcomed Russia's decision to keep the issue high on the agenda. He also highlighted the importance of strengthening the global governance of food security.

During the meeting, Gatilov also stressed Russia's interest in further strengthening the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) created last year by the G20. The Russian Federation is looking forward to working closely with FAO and to enhancing AMIS's effectiveness.

Among other subjects discussed were expansion of bilateral collaboration focussed on improving agricultural production and promoting food security in Central Asia. Russia is also willing to pursue, together with FAO, knowledge exchange and training programmes for developing countries, and, with that aim in view, suggested following UNESCO's example and establishing FAO Chairs in leading Russian universities.