LIBERIA: FAO New Boss Presents Letters of Credence
By: Augustine N. Myers – The new Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Mr Jean-Alexandre Scaglia, on Wednesday presented a copy of his Letters of Credentials to Agriculture Minister Dr. Florence Chenoweth.
FAO’s New Country Representative Mr Jean-Alexandre Scaglia Presents Letters of Accreditation to GOL through Agriculture Minister Dr Florence Chenoweth
Mr Scaglia, who had earlier presented his Letters of Credentials to Foreign Minister, Dr. Toga Macintosh, said he was happy to take up assignment in Liberia for the next three years to collaborate with the Government to scale up Liberia’s agricultural development needs.
The new FAO Country Representative also conveyed warm greetings of the new FAO Director General, Mr Jose Graziano da Silva, to the Government and people of Liberia.
He then stressed the importance of the South/South Cooperation Programme soon to be implemented in Liberia with the support of the Government of China.
Mr. Scaglia recalled the objective of the new FAO Director General to accelerate the decentralization process of the Organization. He disclosed that FAO Representation in Liberia has been selected as one of the test countries for the decentralization of FAO and the merging of different activities under the supervision of FAO Liberia’s Country Office. “It is expected that such decentralization will lead to improved partnership between FAO and the Government of Liberia”, the new FAO Representative emphasised.
Receiving the Letters of Credence, Dr. Chenoweth congratulated FAO’s new Country Representative for his new assignment. Dr Chenoweth informed Mr. Scaglia that the Government of Liberia has placed premium on capacity building especially the training and empowering of young Liberian professionals.
She said Liberia’s youthful population of 60% was critical to the country’s development initiatives, citing agriculture as a key career sector for transforming the lives of young people as seen in Asian countries.
Expressing gratitude to FAO for its partnership with Liberia over the years, Dr Chenoweth said the Organization has a lot of strength that the Government would benefit from. She then requested the FAO to assist in the training of entomologists to protect crops against insects and caterpillars.
The new FAO Country Representative is a soil fertility specialist who has served FAO for over 20 years in various assignments in Africa, Asia, and Europe. He comes to the country with a wealth of experience, and has pledged to serve as technical advisor to the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) in Bong County. Mr. Scaglia replaces Dr. Winfred Hammond who ended his tour of duty in February 2011.
