The Spaniard Álvaro Lario has been elected as the new President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the elections held by this body in Rome. His main task will be to head up the response to the global food crisis.
The new President of IFAD has sound training and extensive experience in financial matters, both in the private sector and at such institutions as the World Bank Group. Before being elected, he was the Financial Vice-President of IFAD in his predecessor’s team, where he promoted a series of reforms that have led IFAD to become the first United Nations fund to obtain an AA+ rating from several rating agencies.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development is the United Nations agency specialised in providing funds and mobilising additional resources to promote economic progress and improve the agricultural productivity of inhabitants in situations of poverty in rural areas, where 80% of the poorest people in the world live.
Spain advocates the importance of a multilateral approach to promote coordinated responses to the serious current food crisis, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. IFAD plays a key role in this response by fostering the resilience of small farmers, fundamental for the production of one third of the world’s food.
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