The thousands of tourists who visit the famed Roman square Piazza del Popolo pass unknowingly by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. Yet no other U.S. embassy is more involved in reducing hunger around the world.

As the 8th U.S. representative to the U.N. Agencies in Rome, I lead the mission staff in drawing attention to global problems of hunger and food insecurity and in managing and ensuring the effective use of U.S. resources provided to the United Nations for the benefit of the poor, the hungry, and the marginalized.

The U.S. mission serves as the primary link between the U.S. government and the three principal U.N. organizations dedicated to food and agriculture - the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The mission, consisting of personnel from the Department of State, Department of Agriculture, and the Agency for International Development, oversees U.S. relations with and plays a leading role in U.S. engagement with these Rome-based U.N. agencies.

As the biggest U.N. contributor, the United States has a large stake in ensuring that the organizations are well run and that their activities complement and enhance U.S. national and foreign policy objectives to feed the hungry. My team and I at the U.S. Mission represent the U.S. government in the Rome-based U.N. agencies on policy and programmatic issues, negotiate positions with other local representatives from donor and recipient countries, and build bridges between Washington and Rome on strategic policies for the best stewardship of America's aid to the hungry.

-- Ambassador Gaddi H. Vasquez