Under the terms of the framework agreement, USDA funds and resources, including human resources, can be mobilized to support FAO projects promoting sustainable agricultural development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries.

"Lasting solutions to hunger and poverty require effective collaboration among all development partners, as well as capacity-building and institutional development in recipient countries," said John Ziolkowski, Director of FAO's Liaison Office for North America.

"Only by working together in promoting sustainable development and targeting the needs of the poor and hungry can we hope to meet the Millennium Development and World Food Summit Goals."

USDA grants could finance FAO activities emphasizing poverty eradication through economic growth and permanent improvement of the economic and social conditions of the rural poor in developing countries.

Particular effort will be made to mobilize local human and other resources within the beneficiary countries and to ensure that development assistance is based on a dialogue with the partner countries and is in accordance with the countries' own priorities and national poverty reduction strategies.

The agreement was signed by FAO Director-General Dr Jacques Diouf and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

This could be a significant breakthrough. In January, US president George W Bush and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso reaffirmed their commitment to breaking the deadlock in the Doha round of WTO trade talks.

"The moment of truth for the Doha trade negotiations is fast approaching, and the US holds the key to making a deal possible in 2007," said Barroso.

And at a joint press conference afterwards, Bush added that "we both recognise that the best way to help impoverished nations is to complete this Doha round".