GUINEA-BISSAU - GUINEE-BISSAU

His Excellency João Bernardo Vieira, President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau

I come from a continent, namely Africa, which accounts for the vast majority of those 800 million people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition throughout the world. The situation which currently besets Central Africa shows, in an unbearable fashion, the immense dimension of the human tragedy which continues to impose its imprint on our continent. I am however confident that the appeal of these hundreds of thousands of men, women and children will, during our Summit, be properly heard and elicit immediate and effective solidarity.

For all of these reasons I would, at the outset, like to convey the immense hopes aroused in my country by the carrying out of this Summit on world food security. We are meeting here in Rome once again, 22 years after the 1974 Summit, and we cannot fail to point out that these two last decades have been marked by major events and various ongoing changes on the international scene which have affected various aspects of the life of humanity. However the present situation, if we look at nutrition in the world, is not really commensurate with the expectations and hopes that were aroused right here nearly 22 years ago. Indeed the marginalization of more than one-fifth of humanity in ghettos of hunger and malnutrition demonstrates and testifies to the persistence of an unacceptable situation in a world where a minority lives in great abundance and well-being unlike the vast majority of the world's population.

The threat of such a situation is very real. It is a threat to international stability, in so far as the impact of food insecurity and hunger transcend national borders or even continents, in a world which is characterized by growing globalization of trade and the inter-dependence of nations. Hence it is imperative that we eradicate hunger, not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for reasons of security because hunger constitutes an ongoing source of destabilization for the political, economic, social and environmental status of all mankind.

From this standpoint, our meeting constitutes a privileged opportunity to establish a realistic framework, both in terms of the diagnosis and in the definition of the objectives and as a means to a frank and open dialogue to achieve a global food balance in all its political, economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions.

At a time when my country, like most African countries, is struggling to affirm the rule of law based on a democratic regime, we cannot overlook the extreme difficulty of achieving the coexistence of our struggle to satisfy the basic needs of our populations with the building of a democratic culture which will be sound and which we want to strengthen day by day. The attention resulting from the simultaneous pursuit of these two processes is such that we do not hesitate to affirm that, without the satisfaction of the basic needs of our populations both in terms of food and also of health education, we cannot have sustainable stability or for democracy or even any possible real development. If the solving of these problems depends essentially on political will and a high level of awareness and technical capability of governments and civil society in Africa, we are nonetheless equally convinced that it is also dependent on the capacity of the international community to help solve some of these problems which we consider to be critical. In this respect, the factors for sustainable development, such as investment in human capital, education and health and investment in agricultural development and environmental protection will be seriously jeopardized by the unbearable burden of the external debt which hovers like a sword of Damocles over the African countries. The international community must therefore be alive to the fact that outright debt forgiveness, or at least bearable debt adjustment, constitutes a fundamental pre-requisite for development, for democracy, for peace and for the social well-being of our populations and for all mankind.

The food policy of Guinea-Bissau is in fact part and parcel of the framework of the economic and financial reforms that we have embarked upon as well as our plan for agricultural adjustment. Within the framework of drawing up agricultural policies, the statement and major objectives of the Government aim to ensure food security for all the people of Guinea-Bissau as well as for the diversification of production and an increase in food and agricultural exports. All this is linked to the preservation and sustainable management of agro-silvo-pastoral resources.

These objectives stem from a disengagement of the state from the productive sectors in favour of the private sector, along with the greater empowerment and participation of the rural communities in all these activities related to integrated development. We also consider that food security is not concentrated exclusively on the production of food but also on the improvement of the general living conditions which this necessitates. Thus malnutrition cannot be combatted seriously until food production and distribution are considered within the framework of sustainable integrated human development.

Economic and social policies, the process of regional integration and international agreements must contribute to the building of food security of populations. It is in this context that Guinea-Bissau intends to enhance sub-regional cooperation, in particular within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as, the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), in the area and revitalize trade in agricultural products on the basis of complementarity. We have also the same political will to give concrete expression to overall integration objectives. Lastly, Guinea-Bissau decided to join the West African Monetary Union as from January 1997. The productive sector, which is essentially agricultural, has a pre-eminent role to play in the achievement of the objectives that we have set.

The legitimate expectations of our population are immense and diverse. Given the complexity of problems to be solved and the enormous costs involved, we must invent a new form of international, regional and sub-regional cooperation which will be more just and will allow for a multiplicity of different kinds of exchanges which will restore and preserve the environment and where development will safeguard the major natural social, political and economic balances with a view to providing genuine Food for All. From this standpoint, we should cultivate a cooperative kind of relationship which will gradually put an end to the welfare mentality which arises only when there is a particular crisis. On the contrary, we should promote the definition and implementation of strategic measures for sound and sustainable development for the most disadvantaged countries. From this perspective we should be able to plan, at the same time relying on our own national efforts, but there should also be public and private international assistance in order to promote the education of our populations and to increase our agricultural industrial output as well.

Lastly, we must have international assistance geared towards enabling us to acquire the financial and material means to ensure the sustainable development of our populations.

Allow me, before I conclude, to reaffirm our appreciation and gratitude for the major contribution made by FAO, as well as other agencies within the United Nations system, to eradicating hunger and malnutrition from the world. I should, in particular, like to commend Mr. Jacques Diouf, the Director-General of FAO, for the efforts he has made within our organization and in particular for taking the initiative of convening this important conference.

Our global community, which derives strength from its diversity, is capable of paving the way for a future of greater social justice with better food security and to give concrete expression to greater solidarity amongst human beings. Guinea-Bissau for its part will leave no stone unturned in order to achieve such aims which are the very basis of our own national aspirations.