Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations dealing with food security and agricultural development worldwide.

The FAO was established on 16 October 1945 in Quebec city to provide long-term solutions in eradicating hunger and poverty. Today the agency consists of 191 member states.

The FAO is a United Nations specialized agency aimed at the implementation of decisions of the world community in food, agricultural and agro-industrial areas, including recommendations concerning sustainable development, environmental protection and the development of the world commerce.

The FAO gathers, analyzes, interprets and disseminates information on food and agricultural issues. The agency also renders technical assistance to the FAO member states.

On October 22, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko received Director–General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Jacques Diouf. The visit contributed to the Belarus accession to the FAO and in November 2005 the Republic of Belarus became its member state.

Within the FAO, Belarus actively participates in decision-making on relevant international agricultural and food issues and improving efficiency of the FAO. Our country has gained access to the FAO information on the latest innovations in agriculture. The Belarus Agricultural Library is a deposit library of FAO documents.

The national interests of the Republic of Belarus are advocated on FAO forums and meetings. FAO facilities are widely used to demonstrate the potential of Belarus in agricultural, forestry and environment sectors as well as to promote a positive image of our country worldwide.

The adoption of Russian as an official language of the FAO activated the dialogue and provided access for Belarusian experts to the FAO publications.

The activity of the National FAO correspondent and FAO consultant on Transboundary Animal Diseases contributes to the promotion of our interests within the FAO.

In order to create necessary legal conditions for the implementation of the FAO technical assistance projects Belarus and FAO are elaborating the Agreement on technical assistance.

Today various FAO technical assistance projects such as rapeseed cultivation on territories contaminated with radionuclides as a result of the Chernobyl disaster; rational management and fire protection of forests and food safety are in different stages of agreement.