Joint Meeting of the 134th Session of the Programme Committee and the 194th Session of the Finance Committee Opening Statement

Joint Meeting of the 134^th Session of the Programme Committee and the

194^th Session of the Finance Committee

Opening Statement

Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General

7 November 2022

Madame Chairs,

Excellences,

Dear Colleagues,

Good morning.

This is the 7th time I address the Joint Meeting of the Programme and Finance Committee since I took office in August 2019 – time is flying!

From my very first speech, I stated that we are all on the same boat – I want to build a dynamic FAO for a better world, as ONE FAO.

Thirty-nine months later, following the wave of unprecedented, complex and overlapping challenges one after another we are facing, I continue to say that we are all interlinked on this small planet - what happens in one part of the globe affects farmers and consumers across the world.

This is a clear message after 39 months!

In my first address to the Joint Meeting in November 2019, I set out my 4 priority actions for the Organization:

One: improving internal management and governance, along with boosting staff morale,

Two: launching a series of important coherent initiatives,

Three: strengthening collaboration with Members, private sector, academia, civil society, and

Four: increasing FAO’s international visibility and reputation by professional approaches.

I mentioned all of this to remind you of what I said in my original manifesto. I did not repeat it in these first 3 years, but I kept doing the work I had promised.

I have kept my focus on each of these 4 areas. But there is still more to be done,

In line with FAO’s mandate, the FAO Basic Texts (2017), the FAO Constitution and the General Rules of the Organization, and as set out in FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31.

I also said that transparency would be a key feature of my work, and this has continued to underline all my management.

In addition, I have also consistently called for FAO to be an ethical workplace for all its employees and have not tolerated any form of harassment and misconduct by its personnel. Prevention of all forms of misconduct is a priority of the Organization.

Preventing small mistakes in advance, together with my colleagues, avoids making big mistakes later.

For this, I rely on the relevant competent offices: the Ethics Office, the Ombudsman and the Inspector-General without interfering in their work – they must work professionally and independently.

Transparency is the essence of inclusivity, and inclusivity is the foundation of collaboration and partnerships.

We cannot realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, nor reach the ambitious targets of the SDGs, by working alone.

The transformation of our agrifood systems can only be achieved through our collective efforts, and the 4 Betters can only be realized through our joint efforts and actions.

The 4 Betters - Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life - can only be implemented by localizing them at the national level, then at the regional level and then at the international level.

By the time I addressed the Joint Meeting for the second time in June 2020, the world around us had changed unprecedentedly, and we had to adapt immediately and agilely to the changes.

We did this collectively, and the new FAO was fit and ready to respond to the new reality.

Our focus was on a preliminary assessment of the pandemic’s impact on food security, nutrition and agrifood systems, as well as FAO’s response to this global threat.

The new Digital FAO ensured that we remained ahead of the curve, ensuring work continuity, and unhampered growth.

We are the first UN agency to operate in a fully digital manner. I recall the first meeting regarding the impacts of the pandemic held with the African Union Commission on 16 April 2020, which was the first fully virtual UN meeting held in all 6 official languages.

We are also a fully paperless Organization, with fully digitalized documents.

We continued to increase visibility and productivity, while ensuring the health and wellbeing of all FAO employees in Rome and worldwide, as well as that of all UN staff across Italy. As FAO DG I am responsible for the safety of all 25 UN agencies present in Italy.

I continue to thank all host countries of FAO duty stations, and the Italian government here at FAO HQ, for their unwavering and continuing support.

FAO’s international visibility and reputation has continued to increase, despite these challenges.

So far in 2022, I have engaged in 56 high-level events at the United Nations, and in Member State processes, in New York.

We should add one more, last Friday I participated in the pre-COP27 event hosted by His Majesty King Charles III – a truly international event. It was an honour for me to meet with His Majesty, who conveyed his appreciation for FAO’s work, cooperation and participation.

And FAO Core Leaders have extraordinarily increased their engagement during 2022 with participation in 71 events so far, including statements at the Security Council, UNGA High-Level week, ECOSOC events and other important meetings like the G20 and G7.

In response to priorities of FAO Members and the UN system at large, FAO’s expertise, knowledge products, tools and policy recommendations have been in high demand in New York to inform the UN Secretariat and other specialized agencies.

As well as at intergovernmental discussions on issues ranging from the response to the impacts of the COVID-19, the climate crisis and war in Ukraine, to the unprecedented food, energy and fertilizer crisis.

Two key areas stand out in FAOs engagement and impact in New York:

First: Increased engagement in the peace and security agenda through the UN Security Council.

I attended the first-ever for FAO in-person briefing during the UN Security Council ministerial-level open debate on conflict and food security on 19 May, chaired by the US Secretary of State.

I was also invited to speak at the Global Food Security Ministerial Meeting that resulted in the “Roadmap for Global Food Security – Call to Action”.

Second: there is great attention given in New York to the inter-connectedness of global agrifood systems, and the importance of addressing the multiple root causes of food insecurity, and to building efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.

For the first time, the FAO Director-General was invited to deliver keynote remarks at the Opening Session of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF).

On this occasion, we also launched the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2022 report, together with partners.

The UN Food Systems follow-up Coordination Hub, hosted by FAO on behalf of the UN system, is operational.

The Steering Committee approved the Hub’s Biennial Work plan, with 94% of its budget dedicated to support Members in implementation of national pathways for agrifood systems transformation.

Work has also started at country level to shape country support portfolios, and with regional level meetings providing opportunities for peer-learning exchanges.

A Scientific Advisory Group comprising 33 experienced scientists has been set up to enhance science-policy interfaces for transformation.

And the focal points for youth and indigenous peoples were also appointed.

The Hub is working with the Coalitions that emerged from the Summit, which through their relevant mandates cover 15 out of the 17 SDGs, and with the engagement of 106 countries.

The first stocktaking meeting in 2023 will allow countries to review progress on national implementation, to create the evidence that countries have started to walk the talk!

The outcome of the meeting could directly feed into the SDGs Summit in September 2023, and the inclusion in the Summit Declaration will consolidate the position of the Agrifood Systems Transformation Agenda as one of the key transitions necessary to “rescue” the SDGs.

I especially mentioned this, because next year this will be a strong refocus on the SDGs with the SDGs Summit.

FAO has been actively engaged in the G20 and G7 pluri-lateral processes, monitoring global agrifood market developments, assessing their impacts on food security and providing policy advice throughout 2022.

This technical support was scaled-up with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the uncertainty around global food and agriculture markets.

I delivered a first update on the situation of global food markets to the Extraordinary Meeting of the G7 Agriculture Ministers in March, and in their follow up meeting in May I presented recommendations on how to ensure global food security in times of crisis.

We had an intense agenda in 2022 under the G20 Presidency of Indonesia, with a strong commitment to the food security agenda.

FAO has been supporting the work under many Ministerial meetings and other work tracks, including agriculture, finance, environment and climate, health, and science.

I briefed the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in April on the challenges faced by food importing vulnerable countries given the rising costs of food, and the implications these had for governments’ finances and balance of payments,

And was invited to brief them again in October on the evolving global food security situation.

FAO has also been requested to do a joint paper with WTO on the global fertilizer markets and policies to the G20 leaders meeting.

An important deliverable is the development of a mapping exercise of global responses to rising food insecurity, which will be undertaken by FAO, together with the World Bank, and presented early next year to the G20 Ministers of Finance and Agriculture.

This exercise will provide the basis for further collective action by the G20, and at the same time FAO has responded to requests by India and Japan in support of their 2023 G20 and G7 Presidencies, respectively.

Within the context of RBA collaboration, work has started on the implementation of the recommendations of the Joint Evaluation.

An updated MoU will be finalized by the end of the year to include thematic priority areas of collaboration.

Focal points are being appointed to facilitate joint engagement in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework at country level, including in the planning processes and resource mobilization efforts.

The RBAs regularly coordinate policy responses to the global food crisis, with increased country-level coordination in humanitarian crisis contexts, such as through the Food Security Cluster, the Global Network against Food Crisis, and the High-Level Task Force on Preventing Famine.

The Director of the FAO Office for Emergencies and Resilience is playing an increasingly important role in coordination of the food hotspots, and I greatly appreciate his efforts.

Agrifood systems transformation is a crucial part of climate solutions – this is the message FAO is bringing to the UN Climate Conference (COP27) starting this week in Sharm El Sheikh,

Where FAO will leverage the full potential of the new FAO Strategy on Climate Change, calling for increased resources to put agrifood systems transformation into action.

We have been working with the COP27 Presidency to support initiatives relevant to FAO’s mandate, such as the Food and Agriculture Sustainable Transformation Initiative.

FAO will also be participating at the technical level at the COP15 to the Convention on Biological Diversity in December in Montréal, under the Presidency of China,

Advocating the central role of biodiversity for food security and nutrition and show casing how to transform global agrifood systems to be more sustainable.

FAO also provided technical support to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in 2022, highlighting the ocean as a source of food, jobs and livelihoods for millions of people around the world,

And as a key contributor to the social, economic and environmental well-being of our planet.

FAO consolidated Blue Transformation as the mechanism for aquatic food systems to contribute to global goals, increased awareness on the importance of aquatic foods and small-scale producers, as well as on the need for urgent transformation of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

During the Ocean Conference, we successfully launched the State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2022 Report.

FAO and the IAEA recently signed an updated MoU for the Joint Center to strengthen and broaden collaboration on practical arrangements for our joint work.

The MoU provides the framework for increased cooperation in the area of peaceful application of nuclear technology in food and agriculture, to support global food security and nutrition in response to the needs of Members, using innovative nuclear and related technologies for transforming agrifood systems.

Under FAO’s Chair, the One Health Quadripartite developed the One Health Joint Plan of Action, launched in October 2022,

Which helps to integrate and coordinate our work across the human, animal, plant, agricultural and environmental sectors.

FAO has an active One Health project portfolio of over 617 million US Dollars, working in 75 countries, to provide technical and financial support.

To better respond to Member needs, FAO launched a One Health Agrifood Systems Fund to target efforts to countries most in need.

FAO was also selected as an Implementing Entity of the Pandemic Fund, a financial mechanism established by the G20 to strengthen the capacities of Members for prevention, preparedness, detection and response to future pandemic threats – this is very crucial.

Next week, together with quadripartite partners, we will launch the AMR Multistakeholder Partnership Platform, bringing together stakeholders to assist in combatting AMR together.

FAO continues to work on promoting private sector engagement, with a risk-conscious approach supported by a robust due diligence process.

Since my last update to you in May 2022, we have increased our engagement with private sector and/or industry associations and/or umbrella bodies, which now account for 41% of our formal engagements.

When I addressed the Joint Meeting one year ago, in November 2021, I said I was prudently optimistic about the many opportunities we had before us as we moved into recovery phase, and countries slowly started emerging from the pandemic.

One year later, I continue to be a little bit more optimistic: the share of government spending on agriculture has grown over the last decade compared to the share of agriculture in global GDP.

For the first time, we are seeing an increased and strengthened political will on food security from all politicians, societies and key partners – from developed to developing countries, from rich to poor nations, at local, national, regional, and global level.

There is political momentum to do more and better – to build back better and stronger, together.

Since early this year, we had to start to face new and overlapping challenges due to the impact of the war in Ukraine.

FAO has been and will be staying and delivering in Ukraine, in line with our mandate, as well as in other conflict areas.

We have done all that, and through FAO’s Rapid Response Plan for Ukraine, we continue to assist farmers in accessing crop and livestock inputs.

I also briefed the Joint Meeting on the proposal by FAO in response to the rising challenges posed to national budgets by rising food prices for a global Food Import Financing Facility, presented to the G20 financial ministers and to the International Monetary Fund.

I am pleased to see that the IMF through the Food Shock Window is implementing this proposal.

In 2022, FAO continued to scale up its humanitarian and resilience programming and is on track to exceed the 30 million people reached in 2021 with urgently needed, life-saving and cost-effective agricultural assistance.

I thank all the donors, including the international financial institutions, for their truly international solidarity. I will provide a more comprehensive and detailed report on this at the upcoming Council session.

To address the global fertilizer crisis – in a timely manner - FAO has developed a Fertilizer Trade Tracker, an online tool allowing countries to gauge import needs and export availabilities.

FAO has also developed a fertilizer priority allocation tool for Africa to help policy makers to prioritize the support on fertilizers to countries.

FAO is also promoting the use of soil nutrient maps to improve the use efficiency of fertilizers to help farmers face the rising prices of fertilizers, while boosting productivity.

FAO was asked by the UN Secretary General to co-lead the Food Stream of the Global Coordination Response Group.

So far we haves produced 3 technical briefs on the Global Impact of the war in Ukraine on:

Food, energy and finance systems;

The billions of people facing the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation; and

The energy crisis

Acute food insecurity continues to escalate globally, with up to 205 million people in need of urgent assistance in 45 countries.

Different approaches are urgently needed to reverse this trend, humanitarian assistance alone cannot prevent famine in the long term – we need a shift to anticipation and prevention.

We must engage actors across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and move beyond food to address the underlying drivers of acute hunger.

The Global Network Against Food Crises provides a platform for coordinated and coherent actions, and FAO continues to build partnerships across the UN system in support of these actions, including through the UN Peacebuilding Fund,

Currently, we have 8 pipeline projects across various thematic and geographic areas and are implementing 30 joint projects amounting to USD 26.2 million.

Furthermore, advancing solutions to protracted internal displacement is a practical example of FAO’s engagement across the nexus, including through our work with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Solutions to Internal Displacement.

The new FAO has continued to demonstrate how it is demand and challenge driven, and result and impact oriented.

As I have said on a number of occasions, empty talk spoils business and hard work brings success!

With the improvement of the COVID-19 situation in Italy and declaration of the end of emergency by the Host Country as of 1 May 2022, FAO also aligned its measures accordingly,

With more flexible working arrangements in place in line with the progress made towards a digital FAO.

At the global level, the FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Program continues to work on immediate and medium to longer-term actions to prevent the health crisis from becoming a food crisis.

In July, following an assessment, the Programme was extended for another year, to ensure continuity of technical assistance in a new context.

The cycle of 2022 Regional Conference sessions took place during the first semester of this year, and in this second semester, the Organization has started to act upon the guidance of these Governing Bodies.

The Regional Offices have updated their Regional Priorities and have aligned the Regional Programme Teams.

Two key updates arising from the Regional Conferences that are now being included at regional level are:

One: “localization” of the Strategic Framework, including proposals by each Regional Office to associate the 20 Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) to Regional Priorities and Regional Initiatives; and

Two: development of regional action plans to support implementation of the two new thematic strategies on Climate Change, and on Science and Innovation.

The key outcomes of the FAO Technical Committees also reflect key priorities, from their distinctive technical perspective.

COFI endorsed the establishment of the new COFI Sub-Committee on Fisheries Management and reaffirmed the key role of fisheries and aquaculture to achieve the 2030 Agenda, as well as the central role of small-scale fisheries.

COFO endorsed FAO’s priority areas of action in forestry, including halting deforestation and enhancing resilience, mainstreaming biodiversity and restoring forest ecosystems, among others.

The CCP highlighted the key role of FAO in providing timely and neutral market information and analysis, and promoting market transparency and early warning, including through its partnerships with WTO and OECD.

And COAG discussed the central role of agrifood systems in achieving the SDGs, the need to continue to address knowledge gaps, and the need to promote more coherent and integrated Agricultural Innovation Systems to facilitate access by smallholders and family farmers.

All Governing Bodies emphasized the role of agrifood systems in supporting economic recovery, promoting access to healthy diets, generating employment in rural and urban areas, and managing natural resources sustainably.

This shows that Members, FAO management and shareholders are aligned and committed to work together towards the implementation of the FAO Strategic Framework, our guide over the next decade to transform agrifood systems.

In February 2022, I approved the reorganization of capacities within the structures of the Regional Offices and Subregional offices following the new headquarters’ model, as an integral part of working together as One FAO,

With the objective to improve relevance, timeliness, cost-efficiency, technical quality and effectiveness of the support provided to Members through Country Offices.

The Action Plans for the implementation of the two new thematic FAO Strategies on Climate Change, and on Science and Innovation, are being developed in line with the guidance provided by the Governing Bodies.

The Action Plans target actions and interventions to induce transformational changes across agrifood systems at all levels, and in the practices and capacities of the farmers and communities as central agents of change.

We need to urgently mobilize additional resources to support the implementation of the Strategies.

Following the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) strategic review exercise, Members agreed to a new set of criteria and approach to determine regional TCP resource shares, to be applied from the next biennium.

TCP alignment with the Strategic Framework, as well as with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks at country level, has been strengthened.

We can now document how TCP resources are used for achieving the 4 Betters and the SDG targets.

Last week we observed 2 years since the launch of the FAO Green Cities Initiative, which aims to improve urban agrifood systems and the well-being of people who live in cities, and beyond.

Through this initiative, FAO is engaged in 80 cities around the world, working hand-in-hand with partners to build back better physically, socially and economically.

The One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative has been launched in all 5 FAO Regions.

The OCOP umbrella programme has been formulated as a new modality based on a programmatic approach and aligns with FAO’s Programme Priority Area (PPA) on “Innovation for sustainable agriculture production” contributing to Better Production.

We have received applications from over 78 countries from across all regions to promote 50 Special Agriculture Products as a first step. And we will continue as next steps, with animal products.

Last week we launched the initial 5 OCOP country projects (1 in each region) during the FAO Global Sustainable Plant Production Conference.

As well as the FAO global website on the OCOP to facilitate sharing of experiences and knowledge among the project countries.

The FAO Women’s Committee has continued advancing on its three work streams:

One: Organizational Culture Change and Creation of a Safe Space,

Two: Advocacy, Communication, Innovation and Outreach, and

Three: Accountability of Senior Managers on Gender.

Together with the Youth Committee, the Joint Mentorship Programme now has an active online system for matching mentors and mentees, and advocated for enhanced support to decentralized offices, including through the appointment of Regional Counsellors.

The FAO Youth Committee led the organization of the Global Youth Forum as part of this year’s World Food Forum (WFF), held in hybrid format at FAO headquarters from 17 to 21 October.

Everyone realized the importance of this Forum for FAO to transform its business model.

The 2022 WFF brought together three diverse yet interlinked tracks: Global Youth; Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment; and Science and Innovation.

Inclusivity was at the core of the WFF which brought together shareholders from across agrifood systems and fostered an intergenerational dialogue among global leaders, youth groups, investors, private sector, scientists, innovators, researchers, Indigenous Peoples, artists, cultural leaders and more.

The FAO flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative continues to grow and now includes the participation of 54 countries.

The Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum saw the physical participation of 20 Hand-in-Hand countries, with 7 Heads of State, 15 Ministers and Vice-Ministers in attendance, highlighting the key importance of this initiative.

This innovative event provided a platform for the first time for the 20 countries to present their investment cases to international financial institutions, regional and development banks, and the private sector,

Which resulted in new partnerships and increased investments, with a total estimated investment of about USD 2.1 billion .

The Forum kicked off earnest mobilization efforts, including a USD 500 million commitment from the World Bank to support Bangladesh’s efforts as part of the Government led Agriculture Transformation Programme.

Brazil led off the regional initiative for the Dry Corridor with an initial investment of USD 1 million.

Ecuador has committed USD 40 million from its national budget to upgrade its agriculture value chains, and other countries are following up with requests for further engagement.

The third track, the Science and Innovation Forum, focused on harnessing science, technology and innovation for the transformation of our agrifood systems.

Bringing FAO back-on-track as a center of excellence through its knowledge platform – this is a prioritization. This is the value-added business of FAO for all stakeholders.

The three pillars of the WFF – Youth, Investment, and Science and Innovation - are the 3 driving forces for agrifood transformation.

With the participation in person of over 300 leading scientists, innovation experts and policy makers.

The discussions explored scientific and technological advances, and the associated risks and opportunities, encouraging a rich diversity of perspectives and debates firmly rooted in science and innovation.

Experts shared robust science and evidence-based options for more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems, and strengthened and informed decision-making.

This is the type of dialogue that is urgently needed!

The 2023 World Food Forum will be held from 16 to 20 October, starting on World Food Day to highlight the centrality of food and the mandate of FAO.

The 2022 World Food Day made a resounding global call to leave no one behind, with high impact communication campaigns around the world.

World Food Day is not only a celebration, it is a reminder of what our core priority is: transformation of agrifood systems and rural development.

Over 450 activities took place in 63 cities across 150 countries throughout October.

A multilingual FAO campaign that included 2000 FAO posts on social media that reached over 2.6 billion accounts – 3 times the amount reached in 2021.

We have moved from reaching thousands to now reaching billions!

The events at FAO headquarters welcomed over 3 000 guests in hybrid mode.

I am very grateful to all the colleagues to assist with the renovation and restructuring of the FAO headquarters – as I always say before you can invite guests you need to make sure you have cleaned up your house!

FAO is now a bright place, not just physically, but also mentally. This builds honors and prides.

This year we also launched the newly structured FAO Awards to recognize progress in the transformation of agrifood systems, and achievement of the SDGs - nominations were received from all regions making it a truly global effort.

We have celebrated the first winners of the FAO Champion, Partnership and Achievement Award, and I look forward to recognizing the first winner of the Innovation Award this week.

Our awardees have demonstrated through their accomplishments that we have the tools, knowledge and capacity to bring about the changes we need.

FAO has been the leading the organization of key international years, including the current International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022, with over 160 awareness-raising events having taken place in over 40 countries calling for action to support small-scale fishers at international, regional and national level.

Supporting international years and days is another added value of FAO, but we have to change the business model of how we do this. It is not just about holding meetings, it is about raising awareness at scale, on a daily basis on the ground.

And in early December, we will launch the International Year of Millets 2023 during the FAO Council.

I encourage countries to use these international years and days to market and brand their products, in line with the OCOP initiative.

Today, I wanted to highlight three important points with you:

First: FAO has adapted to the new normal and is today more efficient, dynamic, innovative and effective - we are speeding up delivery!

Second: FAO has set its future strategic direction and platforms in a transparent and inclusive way - together with all of you!

And Third: FAO is now globally recognized as a professional, trusted partner of all shareholders working to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Working more and better, together, to achieve our common goal of the 4 Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life – leaving NO ONE behind.

I am determined to continue upon this path through extraordinary efforts, with your concrete support and contributions.

I have taken a little longer this time, because it is an Extraordinary Year and together we are making extraordinary efforts to achieve extraordinary results, together. But we still need to do more, to be of real added value to all our Members.

Thank you.