Happy New Year!  With a new year comes a new round of FAS Spotlight webinars.  We will be kicking off the 2022 Spotlight series with an event featuring our FAS office in the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) in Rome.   The draft agenda is below.

Not to be confused with our Office of Agricultural Affairs in the US Embassy to Italy, our other (and featured) USDA office in Rome works with the US Department of State and USAID at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) in Rome to advance U.S. policies and support UN efforts in the areas of agricultural development, food security, science and innovation, and food safety standards at FAO, WFP, and IFAD. FAO's impact on agricultural policy development throughout the world is immense and the USDA office provides key technical expertise and advocates for sound-science-based priorities as the U.S. lead on FAO technical Committees (Agriculture, Commodity Problems, Forestry, and Program Committees) and in the Committee on World Food Security.

Our featured guest speaker is Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United National (FAO), who will lead us through a presentation on the FAO’s recently approved Private Sector Strategy. Sean Cox, FAS Agricultural Attaché in Rome will also discuss the role of the FAS office in USUN and our ongoing partnership with the three UN agencies located in Rome.

The event will be hosted on MS Teams – simply click on the link provided in this invitation to attend.  The event will run one and half hours, with half an hour for question and answer.

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Click here to join the meeting

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Brian Guse, Global Engagement Executive at brian.guse@usda.gov or at  FASCustomerEngagement@usda.gov.

Draft Agenda

1. Introduction from Brian Guse, Global Engagement Executive, Customer Engagement, FAS
2. Welcoming remarks and opening, Clay Hamilton, Associate Administrator, FAS
3. Welcoming remarks from Ambassador Cindy McCain, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture
4. Introduction to USDA activities in Rome and FAS engagement with FAO, WP and IFAD, Sean Cox, Agricultural Attaché, Alternate Permanent Representative, U.S. Mission to the UN Rome
5. FAO Private Sector Strategy presentation from Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United National (FAO)
6. Question and Answers:  Moderator, Brian Guse

Photo courtesy of Kyle Glenn, Unsplash