The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have signed a five-year MoU that seeks to foster investment operations in the field of agriculture, private sector development and value chains that promote both EIB's priorities and FAO's strategic objectives.
The FAO/EIB agreement, announced during the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, further marks the engagement of the EIB in the agribusiness sector and, for FAO, a partnership with the world's largest multilateral financial institution.
“This is a landmark opportunity for both of us to combine technical knowledge and financial capacity to engage private and public investors in eradicating hunger” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, noting that ensuring enough global food supply for a growing population and making agrifood systems more sustainable would require robust investments in developing countries.
Given recent developments and the envisaged expansion of economic engagement of European countries with Iran, increased investment in agricultural rural development and food security in the country is becoming a salient issue which needs to be addressed.
“The need for more and better agricultural investment in Iran is becoming increasingly crucial in the light of the trends witnessed over the past decades…these trends evidence not only a greater demand for investment support for the agrifood sectors, but also an unequivocal need for an Investment Support Strategy that would assist in managing the complex policy processes in these sectors,” noted the FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Serge Nakouzi.
The FAO envoy further stressed the importance of capitalizing on the opportunity provided by the FAO/EIB agreement to strengthen investments in agrifood systems, adding “such investments will contribute towards the development of a strong, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector and reinvigorating further the role of this sector in the national economy.”
The FAO/EIB agreement will intensify cooperation between the Organization and the European Investment Bank in such areas as the joint analysis, planning and execution of investment operations.
The mutual collaboration should yield a tangible impact on strengthening agriculture, food security and rural development throughout the world.
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