Prime Minister’s Media Division

Director General of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) Dr Qu Dongyu called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Temple Trees in Colombo today (February 19).

The Prime Minister, while thanking the Food and Agriculture Organization for the assistance provided to agriculture and the rural economic development over the years and urged the FAO to consider further assistance to plans for introducing new technology for agricultural and fisheries sectors.

He made a special mention about setting up water pumps with solar panels for energy generation for rural farming. FAO Director General said such projects have been introduced in Africa and FAO would consider such a project in Sri Lanka.

Dr Qu Dongyu praised Sri Lanka’s climate sustainability and said, This Island can be described as the crystal-clear water drop of the Indian Ocean.”  He praised the economic recovery process after the unprecedented crisis in recent past, expressed confidence that Sri Lanka would regain its position as a middle income country in a short time.

Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake and Media Advisor Sugeeswara Senadhira, senior FAO officials, including Director, Godfrey Magwenzi, Beth Crawford, Wimalendra Sharan, Maximo Torero and Anjelica Jacome were also present at the discussion.