6 March 2012, Rome - Director-General José Graziano da Silva praised Belgium’s new cooperation programme when he met with the country’s ambassador and permanent representative to FAO H.E. Vincent Mertens de Wilmars in Rome.

Graziano da Silva said he was especially impressed by the approach of delegated cooperation, negotiated directly by FAO at country level with the Belgian Embassies– a process recently begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger, and the Belgian Fund for Food Security..

Belgium was an example that should be followed by other donor countries, he told the ambassador, who was joined by Minister Counsellor Martine Van Dooren.

Belgium is FAO’s eight largest donor. This includes multilateral contributions to core funding – set to total US$15.7 million over the next four years through FAO’s multipartner mechanism – and some US$13.1 million per year towards humanitarian interventions, including the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities. 

Graziano da Silva briefed the ambassador on FAO’s decentralization process, including the integration of emergency and development activities.