Global Health Summit of G20
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
21/05/2021
Global Health Summit of G20
Statement by Dr. QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
21 May 2021
Excellences,
H.E. President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Prof Mario Draghi
H.E. President of the European Commission, Madam Ursula von der Leyen
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1.I thank Italy, current G20 presidency and the European Commission, for inviting me to this Summit.
2.The pandemic will only be over once everyone is safe.
3.Sharing lessons learned, strengthening multilateral cooperation and developing joint actions, such as adopting the Rome Declaration, will pave the way to this common goal.
4.Our global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including reaching Zero Hunger by 2030, have been critically compromised.
5.Beyond jeopardizing human health, the pandemic is also disrupting our agri-food systems that are core to our health and life.
6.We need to take immediate action, to avoid a global food crisis with long-term impacts.
7.Almost 155 million people are projected to fall into extreme poverty and food insecurity with the most vulnerable bearing the greatest burden.
8.FAO has been implementing the flagship “Hand in Hand Initiative” focusing on vulnerable countries (SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs), and designed a comprehensive COVID-19 Response and Recovery Program to proactively address the pandemic’s socio-economic impacts.
9.These prioritized programs aim to mitigate the immediate impacts, while strengthening the long-term resilience of agri-food systems and sustainability.
10.Strengthening and improving health and agri-food systems must go hand in hand.
11.Healthy Diets are crucial in that context and can play a role in addressing both malnutrition and environmental concerns.
12.They are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable and are culturally acceptable.
13.We can learn from traditional diets which are science based and overall balanced to exploit their positive effects on health and environment.
14.They are anchored in economic and socio-cultural contexts which privilege their consumption by the concerned populations.
15.To successfully address all aspects of the pandemic, we must strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration; support interdisciplinary capacity building; and promote the implementation of One Health across sectors.
16.The Tripartite of FAO, WHO and OIE together with UNEP, IAEA, World Bank Group and others, join the G20 and other Members in the different initiatives to enhance the One Health approach.
17.Global promotion through the Global Action Plan on One Health and its High-Level Expert Panel are important steps.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
18.To achieve real impact and remarkable change, we must scale up joint efforts translating our global mandate into national action plans which are ready and capable.
19.We must build up coherent movement from high-level discussions to practical implementation on the ground. Let’s walking the talk!
20.Global Health security and food security must be for ALL - with no one left behind.
21.FAO welcomes the commitment of G20 and other partners to health security and food security, and readiness to work for a better world TOGETHER – with better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – for ALL. Today is International Tea Day, let’s have a cup of tea even if we have no tea break!
Thank you.