(Washington, D.C., January 23, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will travel to Belgium, Netherlands and Italy January 26th to January 30th to engage with his counterparts on important issues facing agriculture at home and abroad. The Secretary will also meet with industry representatives and tour agriculture operations.
Belgium
Sunday, January 26th
- Secretary Perdue tours a livestock farm and participates in a farm roundtable with U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Ronald Gidwitz, Belgian Minister of Agriculture Denis Ducarme, Wallonia Region Minister of Agriculture Willy Borsus and farmers from the European Union.
Monday, January 27th
- Secretary Perdue meets with EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan and EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides.
- Secretary Perdue participates in a media roundtable at the United States Mission to the European Union (USEU).
- Secretary Perdue attends a luncheon with the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers.
- Secretary Perdue participates in an EU Parliament engagement with the European Food Forum.
- Secretary Perdue delivers remarks at a reception to recognize partners in the U.S.-European Union agricultural relationship.
Netherlands
Tuesday, January 28th
- Secretary Perdue tours Wageningen University & Research (WUR) Bleiswijk Research Station with Dutch Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten, WUR President Louise Fresco, U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra and Dutch Ambassador to the U.S. André Haspels.
- Secretary Perdue tours Koppert Cress, a Dutch company focused on innovative agriculture.
Italy
Wednesday, January 29th
- Secretary Perdue meets with industry representatives at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- Secretary Perdue participates in a roundtable discussion with USUN Permanent Representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.
- Secretary Perdue meets with FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.
- Secretary Perdue meets with Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Operations Valerie Guarnieri and WFP Director of School Feeding Unit Carmen Burbano.
- Secretary Perdue will hold a teleconference to discuss his trip to Belgium, Netherlands and Italy with U.S. media at 10:00am ET. Reporters wishing to participate must RSVP to press@oc.usda.gov by Tuesday, January 28th at 5:00pm ET to receive the call information.
Thursday, January 30th
- Secretary Perdue meets with Italian Minister Teresa Bellanova at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry Policies.
- Secretary Perdue participates in a pasta cooking presentation promoting American farm and food products.