Third Meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of Central Asia

Third Meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of Central Asia

FAO Director-General, Dr QU Dongyu
Opening Remarks

15 March 2021

As prepared

 

 

Honorable Ministers,

Distinguished Delegates,

Dear Colleagues,

1. I am pleased to be with you at the Third Meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of Central Asia today, and I commend the honorable Ministers for having chosen Innovation in Food Systems as its theme.

2. I thank Minister JANYBEKOV of the Kyrgyz Republic for hosting this meeting.

3. FAO values the collaboration with Central Asia and I am pleased to see that our cooperation is growing.

4. We have a partnership office in Kazakhstan and FAO Country Offices in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

5. I am also pleased that the dialogue with Turkmenistan is under way to upgrade FAO’s presence in the country.

6. Our presence at country level is of great importance in ensuring that we deliver the best support. 

7. And only together, can we face such unprecedented challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. The pandemic has shed the light on the fragility of our agri-food systems and the resulting vulnerabilities we face.

9. Business-as-usual is no longer an option, and we must transform our agri-food systems to ensure that no one lacks regular access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, while our production and consumption patterns bring no harm to the environment.

10. The pandemic is giving us a rare opportunity to reset, rethink and redouble our efforts to build forward better and greener, using coordinated approaches that are inclusive, holistic, and coherent.

11. Meetings such as the one of today are therefore very timely – as they foster cooperation and engagement.

 

Honorable Ministers,

12. FAO developed a new Strategic Framework that focuses on the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for Better production, Better nutrition, a Better environment, and a Better life, leaving no one behind.

13. I look forward to your endorsement during the upcoming FAO Conference of this vision, which will ensure a strategic and systems-oriented approach within all FAO interventions.

14. Under this new Strategic Framework, FAO will also apply four cross-cutting “accelerators” in all its programmatic interventions to accelerate the impact of all programmatic interventions, with a focus to achieve SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (no hunger), and SDG 10 (reducing inequalities).

15. These accelerators are:

a. technology,

b. innovation,

c. data, and

d. complements (governance, human capital, and institutions)

16. We need science, technology and innovation to transform our agri-food systems.

17. FAO is supporting Members in developing scientific knowledge, policies and science-policy interfaces for agri-food systems transformation.

18. The country-led and country-owned Hand-in-Hand Initiative uses geospatial data and modelling to provide a comprehensive view of economic opportunities.

19. The Initiative aims to improve the targeting and tailoring of innovation, institutional reform, finance, as well as investment and policy interventions.

20. Tajikistan has already joined Hand-in-Hand Initiative, Uzbekistan has expressed its interest, and I encourage all of you to join the initiative.

21. Since I took office in August 2019, special focus was given to the centrality of science, technology and innovation for agri-food systems transformation, both in terms of internal structural reform and external public engagement.

22. We strengthened and upgraded the Joint FAO/WHO Centre that handles CODEX food standards and the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.

23. Bothcenters are important knowledge bases that inform action for food safety and our work on zoonotic diseases and are supporting hubs for science-policy dialogue.

24. We strongly believe in One Health as an integrated approach that ensures that specialists in multiple sectors work together to tackle health threats to animals, humans, plants and the environment.

25. This is why, FAO as current chair of the One Health Tripartite of FAO, WHO and OIE is working on a Global Action Plan for One Health, a historic contribution to the prevention of future pandemics originating from animal sources.

26. Here again, FAO offers it vast expertise in animal and zoonotic disease control, regional and national animal disease control systems, consolidated information and warning systems for animal disease, and our capacity to provide policy support and advice.

27. FAO’s first-ever Chief Scientist and the Office of Innovation are synchronizing the corporate efforts in a new mindset to ensure the robustness, breadth and independence of scientific approaches and innovation that will underpin the transformation of our agri-food systems.

28. The aim is also to strengthen the various global platforms that FAO hosts to support the generation and application of scientific knowledge in policymaking and the interaction between the scientific community and policymakers.

29. For example, the International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture can provide structured and strategic policy recommendations on leveraging digital technologies in food and agriculture.

30. In July 2021, we will hold a ‘UN Food Systems Summit 2021 Science Day’ at our Headquarters, to inspire trust in the adoption of innovation and science for achieving a world free of hunger.  

 

Honorable Ministers,

31. The transformation of agri-food systems is at the heart of FAO’s mandate to provide safer, more affordable and healthier diets for the world’s rapidly growing population

32. The UN Food Systems Summit is therefore very timely in galvanizing momentum and public interest, and FAO continues to provide full support to the Summit’s preparatory process.

33. We are also actively present in the Summit’s governance structures, from the Advisory Committee to the Scientific Group, the UN Taskforce and the Food Systems Summit Secretariat, of which we host a part in Rome.

34. We are the UN Anchor Organization for Action Track 1 on “ensuring access to safe and nutritious food” and support the assessment of potential game changing solutions through the FAO-led modelling approach.

35. We have appointed focal points for each of the other Action Tracks and cross-cutting levers of change, so as to contribute FAO’s expertise. 

36. FAO will also be co-hosting the Pre- Summit and the aforementioned Science Day.

37. The World Food Forum (FAO WFF) by the FAO Youth Committee will drive this momentum into the future, ensuring inclusive and solid partnerships for the implementation of the Summit outcomes. 

38. FAO is also providing technical support to the Members to inform their national dialogues, notably by providing data and assessments of agri-food systems. 

39. We are undertaking rapid agri-food systems assessments in 60 countries to inform the development and implementation of the national food systems road maps.

40. You can count on FAO’s support in the UN Food Systems Summit preparatory process and in implementing the Summit’s follow-up actions and recommendations to achieve agri-food system transformation.

41. Because, national, regional and international partnerships are essential to reach this goal.

42. I am confident that today's meeting will mark the beginning of a very important dialogue that will contribute to shaping agri-food system transformation in Central Asia!

43. Thank you