WUNRN
FAO - Women in Agriculture - The
State of Food & Agriculture 2010-2011
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UN News Centre
26 June 2011 –
A former Brazilian food security minister will become the first
person from Latin America to head the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations agency leading
international efforts in the fight against hunger.
José
Graziano da Silva, who has served as a senior regional official for FAO since
2006, will take up the post of Director-General on 1 January next year after
beating five other candidates during voting today at the agency's headquarters
in Rome.
Mr.
Graziano da Silva, received 92 votes from 180 votes cast by FAO Member States
during the second round of balloting, narrowly defeating Miguel Ángel Moratinos
Cuyaube, a former foreign minister of Spain.
Four
other candidates – Franz Fischler (Austria), Indroyono Soesilo (Indonesia),
Mohammad Saeid Noori Naeini (Iran) and Abdul Latif Rashid (Iraq) – all withdrew
from the contest after receiving fewer votes during the first round of
balloting earlier today.
Mr.
Graziano da Silva, 61, will be only the eighth person to lead an agency that
was established in 1945 and he will be the first person from his region.
In
a speech yesterday in which he outlined his proposed programme as FAO chief,
Mr. Graziano da Silva pledged to work towards five main goals: eradicating
hunger, promoting a shift to sustainable food production, ensuring greater
fairness in global food management; swiftly implementing agreed internal FAO
reforms, and expanding South-South cooperation.
“My
track record shows that I can bring to the Organization the leadership that it
needs,” he said. “I have spent my whole working life dealing with issues
related to agriculture, food security and sustainable development that are
central to FAO's mandate.
“Not
only have I taught and written about them, but as [the] first minister of food
security in Brazil, I have led the design and implementation of the Zero Hunger
programme that has enabled millions of people to escape from hunger.”
He
said the recent economic and food crises should serve as a wake-up call for
countries that they must work together to ensure that everyone has access to
food.
Mr.
Graziano da Silva's term will expire on 31 July 2015, but he will be eligible
to run for a second, four-year term. He succeeds Jacques Diouf, who has served
as FAO Director-General since 1994.