Friday 04/July/2025 – 02:31 PM
Ambassador Bassam Radi, the Egyptian ambassador to Italy and its permanent representative to the United Nations organizations in Rome, stated that the General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was elected, in its public session yesterday evening, Egypt unanimously as head of the organization’s Executive Council for the next four years.
He added that the Egyptian embassy in Rome submitted the nomination of Counselor Mina Rizk, Deputy Permanent Representative of Egypt to “FAO”, for this position, to become the first Egyptian in the history of the organization (since its foundation in 1945), the presidency of its executive council, after a strong competition with five candidates representing multiple geographical groups, from Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Europe, among them High -level ministers and officials.
Ambassador Bassam Radi stressed that the Egyptian candidate is the youngest of this high position in the history of the organization, as he is 38 years old, which reflects the Egyptian state’s direction, led by President Abdel Fattah El -Sisi, towards empowering young people in various fields, especially in international forums of strategic importance, within the vision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to refine youth cadres qualified to lead diplomatic work with high professionalism.
Radi pointed out that this victory came as a culmination of the intense efforts made by the Egyptian embassy in Rome during the last period, to consolidate the merit of the Egyptian candidate, reflecting the confidence of the international community in the efficiency of Egyptian cadres and its ability to lead international institutions, especially in light of the increasing challenges in the areas of food security, water, agriculture and irrigation, which are issues that represent a maximum priority for the international agenda, and also represents major axes in the Egyptian national strategy for development.
Ambassador Bassam Radi explained that the Executive Council is the basic ruling body of the “FAO” organization, which is responsible for drawing public policies and work orientations in all areas of the organization’s jurisdiction, and includes about a quarter of member states, which are elected for a period of three years. Egypt currently has the membership of the Council, in addition to its presidency, and the chairmanship of the organization’s financial committee.
He also pointed to a number of other achievements that Egypt has achieved inside the “FAO” during the past two years, among them: the Central Auditing Agency won the task of the legal and financial review of the organization, the Egyptian Food Bank won the Appreciation Award for the year 2025, and the organization’s intention to hold its annual international conference for its foreign and regional offices in the new administrative capital this year.
He stressed that these achievements represent a new international testimony to Egypt’s position and its weight in international forums, especially in files related to sustainable development and food security.
