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20 April, 2007
Josette Sheeran, new executive director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), is scheduled to visit Ethiopia Monday and Tuesday in what is said to be her first international visit since taking office at the end of last year.
Sheeran's first visit to Ethiopia will focus on humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa region, the UN agency's Ethiopia Office said in a statement Friday.
"She will first visit Ethiopia to explore how WFP, the largest purchaser of surplus grain in Ethiopia, can better connect farmers to markets through its purchases," it said.
Sheeran will also have a number of high-level meetings, including those with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and African Union Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare, according to the statement.
Hunger and malnourishment of the world's hungry poor will be issues to concern Sheeran who called for a renewed commitment to the world's hungry poor.
Sheeran was selected for the post in November by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf. She succeeds James Morris, whose five-year term came to an end on April 4.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and each year, the UN food agency gives food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries.
Source: Xinhua