Italian Chamber of Deputies Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee of Agriculture - Intervention by FAO Director-General, Dr. QU Dongyu

Italian Chamber of Deputies
Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee of Agriculture

Intervention by FAO Director-General, Dr. QU Dongyu

As prepared

Wednesday, 21 October 2020 

 

 Honourable Presidents of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture,

Honourable Deputies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I thank the Committee on Foreign Affairs and that on Agriculture for the invitation to join you at this hearing today.

2. We have just celebrated the 75th Anniversary of FAO last Friday, projecting a wonderful video show on the walls of our headquarters and on the Colosseum.

3. This is a message from FAO that we share this celebration with the citizens of Rome, all Italians and the entire world.

4. And it is also an expression of gratitude for our food heroes, the women and men that continued to produce, plant, harvest, fish or transport to provide food to their communities and beyond - helping to grow, nourish and sustain our world. 

5. Closely linked with that commemoration is our sincere appreciation for Italy’s generosity and commitment to host FAO in the heart of Rome.

6. Since the two ships, Saturnia and Vulcania, set sail from Washington in the early spring of 1951 with 76 Staff members and their families on board to make Italy their new home, our employees have become part of the fabric of this historic world capital.

7. And, together, we can look back with pride on FAO’s achievements to revive a ravaged agriculture and help rebuild a world that was devastated by World War II.

8. Over the last decades, farm outputs have increased exponentially, famines have been averted and hundreds of millions have been rescued from hunger and poverty.

9. FAO became a center of knowledge and expertise, ensuring that norms, standards, new technologies and science are shared across the globe, for the benefit of humankind.

10. And we became a trusted partner and respected neutral forum for Members to meet and discuss all aspects of agriculture, fisheries, forestry and so much more.

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11. In the past year, FAO underwent a fundamental transformation and significant reforms, advancing a corporate culture of innovation, in terms of our partnerships, our mindset and our business mode.

12. We flattened the organizational structure to establish a modern, agile and efficient FAO that can better support our Members in achieving better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life.

13. And we are working hard to build a Digital FAO and enhancing our digital services to Members but at the same time bringing the best of digital technologies to the world of food and agriculture through the International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture.

14. Because, despite all the progress made, our work is far from done and the challenges ahead of us are huge.

15. Worldwide, almost 690 million people were undernourished in 2019, even before COVID-19. Three billion could not afford a healthy diet.

16. In order to leave no one behind we are placing a priority emphasis on countries and areas most affected in terms of hunger and poverty levels.

17. That is why we launched the Hand-in-Hand Initiative that aims to accelerate agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development based on data and information on the poorest countries.

18. The Initiative counts on state-of-the-art technologies, such as the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform, which delivers key information for decision-making, and the Data Laboratory for Statistical Innovation, which combines unconventional data sources, big data, artificial intelligence, and data science for decision-making and impact evaluation.

19. This was all before COVID-19, a pandemic that has brought about a crisis of a magnitude without parallel in modern times.

20. A crisis that laid bare the fragility of our agri-food systems, the frailty of our food supply chain, the precarious nature of the agricultural labour force and the thin line that separates many families from poverty.

21. Our most recent assessment suggests that the pandemic may add up to 132 million people to the ranks of undernourished in the world in 2020.

22. So we started raising awareness from the onset of the pandemic to ensure leaders and decision makers were aware of the danger of the health crisis becoming a food crisis.

23. And we developed a comprehensive and holistic COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme.

24. A programme designed to mitigate the immediate socio-economic impacts, while strengthening the long-term resilience of food systems and livelihoods - in line with the UN approach to “build to transform” and in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.

25. I warmly welcome the efforts of Italy and other nations to support the activation of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme and the Hand in Hand initiative, through a Food Coalition.

26. In July, we hosted a consultation with over 150 representatives from FAO Members. I am pleased to note that some 40 countries have expressed interest in being active partners in the Food Coalition.

27. Our work together on the Coalition continues. We see it as a multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral mechanism that will mobilize the resources, expertise and innovation that are required to respond not only to COVID-19 but, more importantly, to achieve the agri-food system transformation that needs to happen.

28. By promoting dialogue and the exchange of knowledge and expertise among countries and working towards solution-oriented plans of action, the Food Coalition will expand our shared partnership and advocacy base for a longer term impact.

29. We are preparing to launch the Food Coalition in early November during a high-level event and look forward to your continued encouragement and support.

30. It takes all of us together to advance concrete actions that will address the impacts of the pandemic and bring necessary agri-food systems transformation.

Distinguished Deputies,
31. The Agenda 2030 Declaration acknowledges the “essential role of national parliaments through their enactment of legislation and adoption of budgets, and their role in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of our commitments.”

32. As Members of parliament, you are uniquely positioned to promote and adopt people-centered policies and legislation to ensure that no one is left behind.

33. FAO is proud to be your partner in this noble mission of eradicating hunger, eliminating poverty and creating a world of harmony and solidarity.

GRAZIE -Thank you.