UN food agency elects China’s agricultural deputy minister to take reins

Having received a total of 108 votes out of 191 casts, FAO’s 194-member countries chose Mr Qu during its 41st annual conference in Rome.

On Sunday, the UN food and agriculture agency, FAO, elected Qu Dongyu, China’s agricultural deputy minister, to take the reins on 1 August. Having received a total of 108 votes out of 191 casts, FAO’s 194-member countries chose Mr Qu during its 41st annual conference in Rome.

The new FAO chief, who was born in 1963, is the first person from a communist country to hold the top job and the ninth Director-General since the Organization was founded in 1945. Current chief José Graziano da Silva, from Brazil, will complete his four-year term on 31 July.

As China’s vice-minister for agriculture, Mr Qu worked on several rural development projects all over the world, during which time he was in close contact with many UN countries.