Executive Director of World Food Programme David Beasley to visit Finland

Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley will visit Finland on 18 October. He will attend the ministerial meeting of the School Meals Coalition in Helsinki.

Executive Director of the WFP David Beasley
Fotograph: Kimmo Räisänen

 

Executive Director of the WFP David Beasley will visit Finland at the invitation of Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari. Beasley will also meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.

 

Beasley has headed the World Food Programme since 2017, and under his leadership the WFP is trying to find solutions to the ongoing food crisis. Nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population suffer from undernutrition, according to a UN estimate. Beasley is often visiting crisis-affected areas, and he seeks to promote matters related to humanitarian access, such the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Finland and France are co-chairing the international School Meals Coalition, which promotes access to school meals globally. Minister Skinnari is the World Food Programme (WFP) School Meals Champion.

Supporting school feeding plays a key role in improving food security and addressing undernutrition in developing countries. Sometimes school meal is the only meal of the day for children in the world’s poorest countries.

The School Meals Coalition strives to increase the coverage and resources of school feeding even in the most fragile countries.

The ministerial meeting of the School Meals Coalition Taskforce will be webcast live(Link to another website.) on 18 October at 9.00.

Inquiries

  • Emmi Mäkelä, Special Adviser to Minister Skinnari in development policy, tel. +358 50 473 6694
  • Pekka Marttila, Desk Officer, Unit for Humanitarian Assistance and Policy, tel. +358 295 350233
  • The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.