Agenda

Ms. Meng ZENG is a Team Lead of Digital Agriculture and Innovation Hubs at IT Services (CSI) of FAO. She holds an MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University. Before joining FAO in 2017, she worked as lead at UNDP in Digital Innovation and Poverty Reduction and at ILO in rural agribusiness and entrepreneurship, and capacity development. Her interests include entrepreneurship and innovation for youth and women, digital knowledge transferring, policy and strategy for the development of digital agriculture, and innovation solutions for Sustainable Development. She currently is leading on Digital Agriculture and Innovation Hubs to create enabling ecosystem and culture for agripreneurs to address development challenges through innovation and partnership. She is also supporting of the establishment of International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture, aiming to promote discussion and strengthen linkages of international fora for agriculture and food, and provide policy recommendations and technical support to governments and other stakeholders to bridge digital gaps.

Dejan Jakovljevic is the Deputy Director of IT Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based in Rome, Italy.  Mr. Jakovljevic has more than two decades of experience focusing on strategic aspects of IT, driving organizational modernization and transformation in the International Development domain. He is passionate about bringing digital capabilities and innovation into accelerating impact in support of Sustainable Development Goals. His previous experience includes IT leadership roles in South East Asia and European Region, with UNICEF and WHO.

Longbao Wei is currently Qiushi chair professor of applied economics and agribusiness, deputy dean of China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, board member and fellow (’2019) of the international Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA). He has held several other positions at Zhejiang University, including director, Institute of Food and Agribusiness Management; and deputy director, National Key Research Base for Humanities and Social Science, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). He has also been a Fulbright Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, adjunct professor at the University of Guelph, and has done work at Iowa State University. He has more than 30 years research and teaching experience in agricultural production, market, trade and policy, industrial clustering and urbanization, and Chinese economic development. Dr. Wei was educated at Zhejiang University, from which he received his doctorate, master's, and bachelor's degrees.

Mr. Eskandar is the Digital Services Senior Coordinator at the Digital Society Division of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of ITU. Mr. Eskandar is currently involved in providing assistance to several developing countries by advising on digital applications and services strategies and policies, assisting in implementing technical co-operation projects in areas of digital health, agriculture, governance and education. He has led the development of several guidelines and best practices reports on digital applications particularly on digital Health, digital Agriculture and digital Government. Mr Eskandar is currently leading major joint programmes with WHO on digital health as well as leading other collaborative activities with FAO and UNESCO in the areas of digital Agriculture and Smart Learning.

Mr. Eskandar has more than 25 years of extensive on-the-ground experience in the field of ICT for Development where he, through working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent in Switzerland and, UNDP, Ministry of ICT and other NGOs in Egypt, was involved in several development projects in the fields of Health, Education, Illiteracy Eradication, Community Development, SME development and Micro Credits.

Mr. Eskandar has an educational background in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications) and has completed an MBA from McGill University, Canada and a Master Degree in Social and Economic Development Studies from University of Paris I, France.