Baku, June 21 (AzerTAc). Azerbaijan`s minister of agriculture Ismat Abbasov has met with FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva on the sidelines of the 38th session of the FAO Conference in Rome.
The FAO Director-General recalled his visit to Azerbaijan during the 28th FAO Regional Conference for Europe and his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev.
Jose Graziano da Silva hailed President Ilham Aliyev`s attendance at the Baku conference, which was, according to him, the indicator of the president’s attention to development of agriculture.
The FAO director-general congratulated Ismat Abbasov on Azerbaijan`s winning prize of achieved targets set by both Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG1) - to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015 - and the more stringent World Food Summit (WFS) goal of halving the absolute number of hungry people by 2015.
Abbasov has informed the FAO director-general on priorities for European region, while Jose Graziano da Silva stressed the significance for coordination of priorities in the level of country, organization and global ones.
They also discussed the possibilities of new directions for cooperation between Azerbaijan and the organization.
Abbasov said along with the sphere of agriculture, the social and cultural spheres are being financed with the internal financial means.
Jose Graziano da Silva hailed Azerbaijani First Lady, president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva`s merits in realization of social and cultural projects in Azerbaijan and abroad.
He presented to Abbasov a letter of invitation for Mehriban Aliyeva to visit Rome, to discuss cooperation on social projects between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the FAO.
The Azeri minister has also expressed need in the work at the FAO for Azerbaijani citizens.
The same day, Abbasov has met with Turkish minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Mehmet Mehdi Eker.
The sides hailed all-round relations, including agricultural ones between the two countries.
The meetings were attended by second secretary of Azerbaijani embassy to Italy Fuad Farzalibayov.
The minister`s Roma visit is in progress.