The G77 & China – Rome Chapter held a plenary meeting at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Feb. 1, local time. Yousef Juhail, Chairperson of the G77 & China - Rome Chapter and Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, presided over the meeting. FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo and FAO Chief Scientist Ismahane Elouafi, among other representatives, made detailed introductions concerning relevant topics. Ambassador Guang Defu, Permanent Representative of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, attended the meeting and delivered remarks. 

When speaking about the UN 2023 Water Resources Conference, Ambassador Guang said the conference is a key international meeting on water and will provide an important opportunity to promote international discussions on the sustainable development of water resources. China commended FAO for giving full play to its technical expertise and adopting a series of forward-looking actions. For example, FAO organized the Rome Water Dialogue in November last year and endorsed water resources management as the topic for general debate at the 43^rd Session of the FAO Conference and as the biennial theme for the Governing Body Sessions in 2024–2025. These efforts played a crucial role in enhancing the international community’s capacity for comprehensive management of water resources. China encourages and looks forward to FAO focusing its organizational functions to lead all parties to build consensus and work out practical measures at the UN 2023 Water Resources Conference, so as to achieve sustainable use of global water resources, and help countries, especially developing countries, improve their capacity for water resource management. 

Ambassador Guang emphasized that as the most important multilateral cooperation platform for developing countries, the G77 & China - Rome Chapter has always assumed the key responsibility of maintaining and expanding the common interests of developing countries. Countries should always remain true to the original aspiration of unity and self-improvement, practice true multilateralism, and work together to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.