First official meeting of the Group of Friends on Bioeconomy

Full house today at the first official meeting of the Group of Friends on Bioeconomy for Sustainable Food and Agriculture at FAO in Rome, chaired by Brazil & the European Union. More than 50 countries in the world already have a bioeconomy strategy. Permanent Representatives from all continents confirmed their interest in making FAO a key platform for awareness raising, exchange of data, indicators, standards and best practices to progressively develop a common understanding and regulatory convergence on the bioeconomy to promote sustainable trade. 

Ambassador Martin Selmayr Chaired the meeting together with Co-chair Carla Barroso Carneira, Ambassador of Brazil, and used this great and inspiring Group of Friends, with all its diversity, to give additional momentum at FAO to the international cooperation on the Bioeconomy, as called for by the EU’s new Bioeconomy Strategy of 27 November 2025, elaborated by Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy and Christophe Hansen, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, which received significant input from Rome. 

We intend to feed this new momentum into the work of FAO’s committees and governing bodies. Ambassador Martin Selmayr was happy to see such a large attendance to the First official meeting of the Group of Friends on Bioeconomy as well as the participants strong commitment and constructive contributions.

EUDEL