Iceland elected to FAO Council 2014-2017

Iceland was elected Friday as a member nation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Council, FAO, for 2014 – 2017. The Nordic countries supported Iceland‘s bid for a seat in the Council, which has 49 seats; 10 for European countries. The main goal of FAO is to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Its work is of great importance to Iceland as the organization is leading on international cooperation on fisheries.

Iceland was one of the founding members of FAO in 1945. The cooperation with and within FAO is in line with Iceland‘s official development aid programme, which focuses on sustainable use of natural resources and gender equality. FAO has expressed interest in cooperating with Iceland on fisheries issues as well as use of geothermal energy in relation to ensure food security , on soil reclamation and gender equality.