1 October V.L. Vasiliev, Permanent Representative of Russia to FAO and other UN Agencies in Rome held a videoconference with the Director of the WFP Department for Partnership and Resource Mobilization K. Manente. During this event he officially notified WFP of the order adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation to allocate additional funding in the amount of 10 million USD to the Program fund to provide targeted food assistance to the needy populations of the Republic of Burundi, the Republic of Djibouti, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republic of Sierra Leone, and the Central African Republic (CAR).

The funds are planned to be used to purchase domestic food and goods, as well as to pay for their delivery to these countries.

During the ensuing exchange of views, the parties discussed the implementation of WFP's Russian-funded humanitarian operations in the context of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic, as well as the current humanitarian situation in Burundi, Djibouti, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the CAR. The Program leadership highly appreciated the growing interaction with the Russian Federation in the implementation of assistance programs for countries in need.