Bilateral Meeting with The Honourable Lily Albino Akol, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food Security of the Republic of South Sudan

Rome - The Director-General met with The Honourable ​Lily Albino Akol, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food Security​ of the Republic of South Sudan on the margins of the 44th Session of the FAO Ministerial Conference at FAO headquarters. 

The Director-General welcomed the Deputy Minister and appreciated the close collaboration between FAO and South Sudan. 

The Deputy Minister thanked the Director General and congratulated him on a well-organized Ministerial Conference. She further expressed the government’s gratitude for the initiatives and projects in the country indicating that the government was working closely with the FAO country team on the successful implementation of Country Programming Framework (CPF), in line with the country's participation in the Hand-in-Hand Initiative.

The Deputy Minister noted that the government sought to leverage FAO's technical expertise, global networks and momentum for the transformation of the agrifood system to enhance resilience and deliver tangible results to move from a donor-aid-humanitarian status to a development orientated position through capacity building activities.  

The Deputy Minister further highlighted the importance of inclusive consultations with government representatives at national and subnational levels, with farmers and agripreneurs, private sector actors, academia and research institutions, civil society and development partners and other value chain stakeholders. She stated that the objective is to ensure that FAO's policies, programmes and operations were fit for purpose and country relevant, and proposed that a national validation meeting be established to consolidate stakeholder feedback and provide guidance for programmatic alignment. 

The Deputy Minister further requested that Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCPs) be developed for Strategic Agrifood Value Chains by strengthening Hand in Hand priority value chains with TCP targets to support the development of products such as sorghum, sesame, fish and meat.; as well as for the development of Aweil Rice Scheme Transformation as a National Flagship.  

Finally, the Deputy Minister requested FAO's assistance to establish and equip quarantine facilities at five key border entry points to strengthen compliance, facilitate safe trade, and protect plant and animal health with the purpose of improving food security, reducing post-harvest loss, and enhancing resilience to food crises.

The Director-Genera reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to continue working with South-Sudan to strengthen and transform its agrifood system, in line with national priorities.