Luanda – Dutchman Hans Hoogeveen was reappointed for a second consecutive term as head of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), during its 43rd plenary session held Thursday in Rome, Italy.
For a mandate that runs until 2025, the independent chairman was elected unanimously, as well as the 49 member States of the FAO council for another two-year term, including Angola.
The FAO Council is the executive body of the organisation, composed of 169 states, which focuses on different sectors, especially the implementation of the work programme and budget of one of the main UN agencies.
As for the 49 member states of the Council, the conference delegates chose the proposed candidates by the regional groups by consensus, but to fill Europe's vacancies, countries had to run for election.
The European group did not agree as has been usual, as four candidates ran for three seats and this resulted in a single election, thus removing the rotating election adopted unanimously in 2014.
With these votes, Croatia, the Netherlands and Iceland received the votes of a majority of delegates who ruled out Russia's intention to take one of the seats on the European Council.
Before the election, delegates approved by consensus the draft resolution on FAO budget allocations for the next two years.
Angola and the FAO have established close cooperative relations since the country joined the organization in 1977.
In 1982, the UN agency set up its office in Angola and has so far supported the government in emergency assistance, resettling vulnerable rural families and providing agricultural inputs for food production.
Meanwhile, the organization was established in 1945 in Quebec City, Canada, and is one of the UN agencies dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty around the world. CLAU/AC/MRA/jmc
