OIC foreign ministers call for support of Ekeren FAO candidacy

BAGHDAD — The 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on its 57 member states to support the candidacy of Turkish nominee Dr. Mehmet Mehdi Eker for Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, according to Havadis, a Turkish Cypriot news website. The call was made in paragraph 58 of the Baghdad Declaration, which the council adopted at its meeting in the Iraqi capital on 17-18 October.

The call asks member states to vote for Eker "in the spirit of Islamic solidarity" at the election during the 45th session of the FAO Conference, according to the report. The election will take place from 26 June to 2 July 2027 in Rome, the report said.

Havadis reported that Eker's results-focused vision for the FAO is finding growing support in different regions. The report said the vision centres on food security, resilient agri-food systems, support for small-scale producers and concrete cooperation between developed and developing countries.

In a statement quoted by the report, Eker thanked the OIC, the chair of the council, the Iraqi foreign minister, the OIC Secretary-General and member states' foreign ministers and delegates. He said he would work with every member, in every region, to make the FAO "more effective, more inclusive and more results-oriented in the field."

The report does not say whether any other candidates have been nominated. It does not give the number of states that have expressed support beyond the OIC declaration.

The current Director-General, Qu Dongyu, has a term that ends in 2027, according to the report. Havadis describes Eker as the longest-serving Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in Turkey's history. It says Turkey has become one of the world's leading agricultural economies during his tenure.