Photo credit: CFS

Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me first to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate the Chair of this Summit, Hororable Carlina Marzan,  the Director General of FAO, Dr QU Dongyu –made present here through Lubetkin and Marcela VIllareal, the Government of Spain through the AECID for its tireless committement over the years, in support of this process.

But amongst all, congratulate YOU MPs of the world represented here today. Your commitment, your enthusiasm, your boldness, your passion for making the RtF a reality in your countries, and in the whole world.

Excellencies, in times of uncertainty and darkness, your commitment gives us all hope, you are a lighthouse in our collective ficht against hunger and malnutrition.

For that reason, I wish to give a big round of applause to all of you, and to all the teams and profesionals that have made this Summit such a success.

Parliaments, and you parliamentarians, are the architects of the societies of wellbeing. You are the change-makers!

At the First Parliamentary Summit held in Madrid in 2018, it was clearly stated that “Parliamentary alliances are key to positioning the fight against hunger and malnutrition at the highest level of political agendas”.

Placing the promotion of food security and nutrition and the protection of the right to adequate food at top of national and local agendas is in your hands.

You are also the key to enact legislation, budget and oversight, to translate this political priority into impact.

However, you cannot be left alone in this crucial and challenging task.

In order to address these challenges, it is crucial for countries – for you honourable parliamentarians - to inclusively develop policy and institutional reforms that take into account all relevant actors and sectors.

We have discussed these days thouroughly some of the key challenges to make it happen. From the overall progress towards SDG 2, to availability and accessibility to healthy diets. From the gender gap, to transforming agriculture and food systems, to Strengthening coordination, cooperation and collaboration to guarantee the Right to Adequate Food.

I was impressed by the progress that you are leading in your countries and by the richness of the experiences you shared, excellencies.

I was impressed by the National Strategy of Food Sovereignty for Food Security presented by H.E. Esteban Valenzuela Treek (Mr), Minister of Agriculture of Chile.

I am inspired by the GLOBAL PARLIAMENTARY PACT you have just endorsed.

I deeply appreciate your request to be part of the Committee on World Food Security of the United Nations, and I truly believe that your engagement weith the Committee will be a game-changer on the development and ultimate impact of the global agreements achieved at the Committee.

I will bring this request to the attention of the Bureau of the Committee on Monday.

In the CFS programme of work for the next quadriennium, which is expected to be approved in October this year, specific attention is paid to the need unfold processes to ehance the use and application of the global agreements achieved at the CFS on the key policy issues we agree upon, at country level. I expect that Parliamentarians and your regional networks and alliances will play a relevant role in this key.

These agreements achieved by consensus at the United Nations, are –and will be much more in the future- a key tool for empowering you on your fight against hunger, as well as a consensus framework where you may ground your legislative and other initiatives.

The CFS 51^st Plenary Session will take place in Rome from 23 to 27 October, and I look forward to having your representatives participating already in this Plenary.

Let this be a start of a long term partnership between CFS and parliamentarian alliances across the world for food security and nutrition.

I see you in October.

Ambassador Gabriel Ferrero y de Loma-Osorio, CFS Chairperson