FAO, USDA ink agreement to enhance cooperation
Posted by Susan Ponsolle on 03-26-07
The UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has signed an agreement with the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enhance cooperation
to support the development of global agriculture system, especially in
developing countries like India.
The agreement will enable USDA funds and resources to be mobilised to support FAO projects promoting sustainable agricultural development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries.
USDA grants could finance FAO activities connected with poverty eradication through economic growth and permanent improvement of the economic and social conditions of the rural poor in developing countries, the FAO said.
Particular effort will be made to mobilise local human and other resources within the beneficiary countries and to ensure that development assistance is based on a dialogue with the partner countries and is in accordance with the countries' own priorities and national poverty reduction strategies, it said.
"Only by working together in promoting sustainable development and targeting the needs of the poor and hungry can we hope to meet the Millennium Development and World Food Summit Goals," said John Ziolkowski, Director of FAO's Liaison Office for North America.
The agreement was signed by FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf and US Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.
New York, March 16 (PTI)
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