Cuban First VP Machado Ventura Receives Candidate for Director General of FAO. CUBA, March 4th, 201.- The First Vice President of the Cuban councils of State and Ministers, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, met on Thursday with Brazilian Dr. Jose Graziano da Silva, one of the six candidates nominated to succeed Senegalese Jaques Diouf as Director General of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The meeting took place at Havana’s Revolution Palace and Machado ratified Cuba’s support of Da Silva’s candidature for the FAO elections to be held in June during the organization’s General Conference in Rome, Italy. The Cuban official and the distinguished visitor spoke of several topics, including the serious food situation around the world in the context of the current global economic crisis. Present in the meeting were the Brazilian ambassador to Havana, Jose Eduardo Martins Felicio, and the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina. During his two-day visit to the Caribbean nation, Dr. Da Silva also met with Cuban authorities linked to the areas of food and agriculture. Dr. Graziano da Silva has devoted his 34-year professional and academic career to issues related to food security, agriculture and rural development. Since 2006, he has served as the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is the former Minister for Food Security in Brazil under ex president Inacio Lula da Silva who is credited with having organized the very successful “plan bolsa” and “fome zero” (zero hunger). (Cubamnirex- Cuban News Agency)
|