Canada's Agriculture Minister first woman ever to chair the FAO

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau chaired the biennial Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Conference last week in Italy.

This year's theme was water resource management. 

Bibeau was the first woman to ever chair the FAO conference and the first Canadian to do it since 1997.

During her visit, she also met with Italian agri-food stakeholders, Canadian industry associations, and Canadians working at Rome-based international organizations and agencies. 

She highlighted the strong economic ties and common values between Canada and Italy, specifically around Canadian durum wheat, and discussed how they could work together to increase trade and investments.

Bibeau also met bilaterally with the Philippines, her international counterparts from Australia, Netherlands, and Mexico, and Italy's Minister of Agriculture to reinforce Canada's commitment to deepening and diversifying agricultural trade; promoting Canadian agriculture and agri-food products; increasing the sustainability and innovation of agricultural production; and global food security.

Stats show that in 2022, Canada-Italy bilateral goods trade totalled $15.0 billion (€10.9 billion), an increase of nearly 52 per cent over pre-CETA trade, Canada imported approximately $12.1 billion (€8.9 billion) in goods from Italy, an increase of nearly 61per cent over pre-CETA imports.

Canada also exported approximately $2.8 billion (€2.0 billion) in goods to Italy in 2022, an increase of nearly 22 per cent over pre-CETA exports.