A total of almost 100 experts from 38 countries are attending the informal European and Central Asian Regional Meeting of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

This event is being hosted by the Ministry of Rural Development on March 3-4. The goal of this session is to prepare the region’s member states for the 37th conference of the FAO, which will be held in Rome this June, and at which they will elect the new director-general as well as deciding on the FAO’s budget for 2012-2013.

At the FAO’s regional conference held in Budapest, participants will prepare for the debate of the two-year work schedule and budget. Besides this, a central theme will be women’s role in Agriculture and Rural Development. An international agreement drafted about the resources of plant genetics in Agriculture will be on the agenda. In addition to this, the participants will evaluate the experiences of the „Act for Diversity” conference held recently in Szeged. During this consultation the FAO’s Budapest offices and their various directors will be introduced. Besides this, the two European candidates running for the post of director-general, the Austrian Franz Fishler (the former agricultural commissioner of the EU) and the Spanish Miguel Ángel Moratinos (former secretary of state), will present their plans and proposals in connection with the FAO’s future.

The UN’s FAO was established in 1945 in Rome. Hungary joined this organization in 1946. At present, the FAO is made up of 192 member states. The European and Central Asian Regional Office together with the Sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Common Service Provider Office can be found in Budapest. In these offices, there are more than a hundred Hungarian experts, who work together with the international staff.

(Ministry of Rural Development, Press Office)