The Minister of State for Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Dr. Solange Uwituze, on Wednesday April 15^th, 2026, met with FAO Director-General, Dr QU Dongyu, on the sidelines of the 34th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

The Director-General thanked the Minister for the long-standing and strong collaboration between FAO and Rwanda. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger by working to achieve food security for all.

The Minister expressed gratitude for FAO’s role in developing Rwanda’s strategy and implementation of food basket sites. 

The pair further discussed the importance of strengthening investment for food basket site initiatives with particular focus on FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative aimed at attracting private sector investments. 

They also discussed leveraging South-South Cooperation opportunities to develop and improve the aquaculture sector, and on managing post-harvest losses through capacity building and infrastructure development.

The discussions further centered on Rwanda launching its national chapter for the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to attract investments. 

The two officials emphasized the importance of innovation and technology to increase productivity and value chain development, agreeing that food basket sites in Rwanda could be the quickest and most effective way to achieve food security if gradually increased and further developed with targeted investments in this area being a key driver.

The pair reaffirmed their commitment to continue working closely towards agrifood systems transformation.

END.