Asitha Perera elected Chairperson of The Asia Group – FAO

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Italy Asitha Perera was recently elected as the Chairperson of the Asia Group of the FAO council in Rome. The Asia Group is the governing body consisting of 23 members from the Asian region amongst who are India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

Ambassador Perera attended the Asia Group meeting in the capacity of Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the FAO, the specialised Agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger, whilst assisting developing countries and countries in transition to modernise and improve agriculture, forestry and fishery practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all.

The Rome Chapter focuses mainly on food security and agricultural development, monitoring closely the interests of the developing countries as it focuses for the achievement of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the three Rome based agencies – Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through inter and intra-group lobbying and negotiation.