Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Vitalii Koval met with President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario. The meeting took place in Rome, Italy. This is the first meeting with Alvaro Lario since Ukraine joined the Fund. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister Oksana Osmachko.

Vitalii Koval thanked for the support provided to Ukraine during the IFAD accession process and spoke about the approval of the Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development – 2030.

“The agriculture development strategy will become a roadmap for the Ministry’s cooperation with international partners, including IFAD. It is about supporting Ukraine in the areas that are the priorities of the Ministry. In particular, irrigation, rural development and support for the transformation of food systems. All this is the mandate of IFAD,” the Minister said.

Vitalii Koval and Alvaro Lario also discussed the financing mechanism to support farmers.

The Minister said that Ukraine had already established contact with the national coordinator for Ukraine, Head of IFAD's Multi-Country Office for North Africa and Eastern European Countries, Naoufel Telahigue.

Vitalii Koval invited IFAD representatives to join the Grain from Ukraine food summit and take part in the discussion on food security and the fight against disinformation and illegal trade.