President Maithripala Sirisena has left for Italy to attend an international summit held by the World Food and Agriculture Organization.

The President will be at Italy for two days before he will leave for Georgia.

President Maithripala Sirisena left for Rome today (14) to attend the 24th session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) and the 6th World Forest Week  organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The 24th session of COFO and the 6th World Forest Week will explore the contributions that forests can make to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Committee will examine what contributions forests can make to achieving the SDGs and other internationally agreed goals; explore ways and means to accelerate progress, in particular, towards Goal 15; discuss actions for implementing the policy recommendations of the Committee on World Food Security regarding the contributions of forests to food security and nutrition; review opportunities and challenges for urban and peri-urban forestry; consider the implementation of FAO’s climate change strategy and specific tasks related to forest resilience, health and forest fires; and provide strategic direction for the future work of FAO in forestry.

It is significant that President Maithripala Sirisena attend this conference in an environment where the government has taken policy decisions to increase the forest density of the country from 29% to 32% as well as in a background where numerous steps have been taken in this regard.

The President is scheduled to deliver his special speech at the Session on July 16.

Later, President Sirisena will undertake a tour to Georgia from 17-19 to attend the Open Government Partnership Global Summit 2018.