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FAO strengthens offices in Bridgetown, Cairo and Tunis

November 21, 2009, Rome – FAO continues its efforts to strengthen the capacity of its decentralized offices. This week, agreements were signed with the Governments of Barbados, Egypt and Tunisia to increase the capacity of the UN agency's decentralized offices to respond to the needs of member countries in a timely and effective manner.

The agreements, which foresee additional inputs by the host governments, will upscale the technical capacity of FAO’s offices in these three regions to the level of some other offices that have already undergone changes. 

FAO will enhance the technical capacity of the teams based in the regional and sub-regional offices, while host governments will supply national experts and other inputs.

It is expected that the expanded sub-regional offices will increase FAO’s capacity to support governments in promoting food security and agricultural development and in responding to emergencies.

The Regional Office in Cairo, Egypt currently covers all countries in the Near East and North Africa.  A multidisciplinary technical team will be established there to provide more focused support to Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, which are not covered by any other sub-regional office.

The Sub-regional Office in Bridgetown, Barbados, covers the Caribbean, while the office in Tunis, Tunisia is responsible for Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

“The sub-regional offices will be technical hubs of excellence to provide faster and more effective support to the member countries,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.