Virtual meeting with Permanent Representatives: FAO in the time of COVID 19

Transcription – Director-General’s Opening Statement

Director-General’s virtual meeting with Permanent Representatives

FAO in the time of COVID 19

 

8 April, 2020 – 11.00hrs to 14.30hrs - Zoom

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning from Rome.

First of all, this is the first ever virtual meeting and briefing to the Permanent Representatives and Ambassadors at FAO. I saw, up until now, we have more than 192 participants. I think, my colleagues, at least more than 180 Member Countries are involved in this meeting. I see that it is the most inclusive one so far in FAO’s history for these kind of meetings. Of course, it is beneficial from the digital work, to have a virtual conference, no matter whether you are in Rome, Geneva, Brussels, Paris, London, the United States of America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, even Pacific Islands, and also the Caribbean Islands, you name it. We at FAO Headquarters welcome all of you.

I am particularly pleased to see that all of the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to FAO, are in good health. So far, I have to report to you that all of the FAO Employees at Headquarters, 3,170 Employees, are doing very well. I am very sorry to report to you that we have lost one employee, Mr Adrian Kazazi. Actually, he served continuously for more than 25 years at FAO. He is the only one we have lost. I feel very sorry. I give condolences to his family, his beloved ones, and his colleagues.

My intervention today focuses on three aspects. Firstly, Progress of FAO’s work since the Council Session last December. Secondly a summary of FAO’s crisis prevention management facing COVID-19. Thirdly, FAO’s perspective on the pandemic’s impact on food security.

First, the progress in FAO’s work after the Council. We recruited the Ethics Officer and the Ethics Office is now set up as a separate, distinct office. It is no longer a part of the Legal Office, and has a direct reporting line to the Director-General. We have appointed the Director of the new Office for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and further staffing of the Office is on-going. The recruitment of the Ombudsperson is in its final stage. This will be the first time in the history that FAO has a full-time, separate position for this important role.

The newly established Women’s Committee and the Youth Committee have been very active in engaging in the current situation. For example, the Women’s Committee, is holding weekly “virtual tea’s”. More than 400 staff attended the one last Monday. The Youth Committee is holding numerous events keeping staff morale, especially young fellows, very high. It is very innovative. They even signed a fixed agenda with events like ‘Innovation Wednesdays’.

Second, a summary on FAO’s crisis prevention management facing COVID-19. The global pandemic has affected everyone, in every country – the rich and the poor. It has also affected FAO, our staff, our employees, our family. We are very sad about the death of Mr Adrian Kazazi. This loss reminds us of the danger and unpredictable cruelty of this pandemic. Our response to covid-19 is based on two principles: health and happiness of our staff, and delivering the FAO mandate.

Our crisis management has been successful so far and is based on three instruments: governance, planning, and communication. First, governance. Right from the beginning in February, I put in place an internal structure to manage, monitor and plan FAO’s response to the crisis, which I personally guide and check daily. Thanks to the early establishing of this structure, FAO is ahead of the curve and the main component of the structure is the CMT, the Crisis Management Team, which manages the different parts of FAO’s security service, medical service, human resources, information technology (IT), the infrastructure operation, procurement and so on. As I am also the Designated UN Official for security in Italy, FAO also coordinates the interaction of all 26 UN Agencies and international organization affiliates with our host country of Italy’s Government.

Second, planning. We keep planning to stay ahead of the virus. We saw that the virus is moving fast if we don’t react quickly. We plan all the office closures, physical meetings, travelling and healthcare, taking into account WHO guidelines; rules of the host countries like Italy for Headquarters; and provisions of the UN Teams for our country offices.

We are working hard to maintain our productivity. We do this through our Business Continuity Plans, our internal control management and financial systems and through the effective and efficient teleworking by staff. We have introduced maximum flexibility by adapting our rules on administration, IT, travelling, human resources and procurement to the evolving situation.

Third, communication. We are communicating quickly and well to the different audiences and we will keep improving. We use the different platforms such as internal emails, our webpages, Intranet, Emergency Notification System to mobile phones, and of course the Member’s Gateway for Permanent Representatives. We also use Social Media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

All these measures and actions ensure that FAO adapts swiftly to the crisis and continues to deliver without a single day of interruption from our work.

FAO is also playing a better role of leadership within the UN System and beyond. Within the UN, I am in frequent contact with the Secretary-General (SG). I have spoken with him a few days ago and we had several meetings with him and with his Senior Managers as well.

Following the recent Senior Management Group meeting we shared with him an update on what FAO is doing in the current crisis. Even yesterday we had a meeting with the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) and the Under-Secretary for Social Economic Affairs and we are going to have a framework for the emergency response to COVID-19. Probably, the DSG will have a briefing with the Member Countries in New York, by Video Conference.

I have also spoken to many other Heads of UN Agencies and it is clear that FAO is an example. An example to follow on how to manage a serious crisis like this. We are ahead of other UN Agencies and they want to learn from us. Actually, I gave a lot of personal warnings to my friends who work in other Agencies.

Internationally, the expertise and the leadership of FAO is demanded these days. I addressed the G20 Extraordinary Virtual Leader’s Summit on COVID-19 on 26 March.

We intervened in a panel organized by the World Economic Forum on COVID-19’s impact on food security, food value chains and supply chains. Many work with the private sector.

All of these activities, measures ensure that FAO adapts quickly. I think we are trying to do our best. This also shows you the increase of visibility of your FAO around the world.

We also have a clear vision of FAO activities in the next weeks and months. We need to plan in a way that allows for FAO to adapt to the new waves of pandemic around the world. There are a lot of uncertainties, of course, but we have been designing and thinking in advance. We are planning ahead and within the next three or six months we will have a clearer picture based on the situation, the real situation, and based on the WHO guidelines and the UN from the SG and the DSG.

Assuming that we will see another three to four waves with a delay of one-two months in between, we need to act fast and be prepared. Our main focus needs to be on improving the resilience of agricultural production, protecting supply chains, in order to avert negative impacts on food security. I already gave a clear message to the Member Countries, as international society, it is time for us to ask all the Member Countries to produce more, produce better and produce locally, if possible.

We are in a different situation now, and we are therefore accelerating our work to change our business model. We are building on the experiences gained during this crisis for the next period. For instance, we will expand using modern means of communication instead of actual travel, we will increase interaction with our Member countries electronically and we will use more teleworking.

We are also establishing modern information hubs, using communication tools such as WeChat and, especially, WhatsApp. We are implementing necessary measures in all country offices, in case the situation gets worse. We also need to plan for some of our staff in decentralized offices to be evacuated for medical reasons, if necessary, as the crisis emerges.

In that respect, I would like to request you, as Permanent Representatives to support our dialogue with your national governments to reach an a priori agreement that facilitates entry, for medical attention, to FAO employees who may be evacuated from decentralized duty stations in the coming weeks and months. I hope we do not have that case, but in case, we really need these relevant Member Countries to offer their assistance.

Thirdly, FAO’s perspective for the pandemic’s impact on food security. Let me now turn to the pandemic, its socio-economic impacts and the work of FAO to limit these impacts. We focus on how food value chains and supply chains impact the most vulnerable people. We believe that the responsible position, in the current circumstances, is not to be alarmist but to offer a coherent perspective that is based on the best available evidence and supported by our experience from past crises and emergencies. I would like to summarize FAO’s perspective with five key messages, because during the past days, five or six weeks, we had lot of cooperation with other UN Agencies and Headquarters.

Message Number one: Health is first, yes, but preserving access to safe food and nutrition is an essential part of the health response.

Our second key message is that, whatever we do, we must base our action on the best available data and the most relevant scientific principles. It is in moments like the present that we must be especially on guard against pseudo-science, false facts, distorted reasoning and outright manipulation of truth. In that respect we need to remember two vital points, as of today.

Number one, there is no known scientific evidence to tell us how the virus originated, and no proven channel of transfer from animals to human beings. Second, there is no evidence that the virus can be acquired through food, including animal or fish based foods.

The third message is, we must quickly and proactively assess each policy measure to make sure we do no harm. The measures to suppress the spread of the virus need to be adjusted to avoid negative impacts on food chains operating, and on food access. To this end, FAO has been very aggressively using every channel of information available to us to collect, filter and assess the most detailed and complete picture available everywhere.

Our fourth key message is that even though food quantities and food prices are not general problems today, as they were in 2008, there are many other ways in which food value chains can become problematic and many reasons to be especially vigilant.

We are especially concerned about countries that are highly dependent on food imports, including the Small Island Developing States and other countries, including many middle-income countries that also rely on international markets to meet key elements and other food needs. We are also quite concerned about countries where a large share of the population is involved in food production, processing, transportation, and distribution.

Our fifth message is that as the pandemic and the accompanying economic shocks spread southward, they will inevitably come to the rural areas, where the vast majority of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people live and where the public resources and institutional supports of public health and social protection are much weaker. That is why last week I had a discussion with the Chair of the African Union, South Africa, and also the Commission for the Economic and Agricultural, Madame Sacco. We will have a meeting next Wednesday and especially to talk with the African Ministers of Agriculture.. That is why I indicated what FAO should be working on and will focus on..

In addition, we also had the invitation to participate in the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting meeting that will be held in Saudi Arabia on 21 April., So we also have to look at this one.

During the past few weeks, through the emergency response from countries like the United States of America, the European Union, China, and Canada, you name it, Britain and all the other international organizations, such as the World Bank; they have really supported the emergency control on desert locusts. I really appreciate that, we also have special funds for that.

Now for the global food security, I think we need more concrete, tangible results, and deliverables to the Member Countries. Because now it is sowing season for the north and it is harvest season for the south. Therefore, I think that we need tangible advice and best practices to the Member Countries. I have already had several meetings with my Senior-Management and Directors at Level D2 and above. We will move fast, I really need support.

In conclusion, let me leave you with two takeaway messages that pave the way forward.

First, now is the moment that international cooperation is needed more than ever. We need to face all challenges of the solutions and work together. There is a first lesson from this crisis that already stands out: It is the importance of taking a collective approach to challenges as great as this pandemic.

This also leads me to the last message. The crisis has also opened to new opportunities, because we are human beings and we have enough intelligence to adapt to crises over the past million years. That is how we have evolved to be the modern human being. I must recognize the danger and opportunities in the crisis’ response to both.

Such opportunity could accelerate collaboration between UN entities at the country level. Yesterday I strongly encouraged the UN Resident Coordinators to play a leading role together with WHO, FAO, UNDP and others, to help countries, especially the Small Island Developing States, Land-Locked Developing Countries and Least Developed Countries, and other countries facing food crises or natural disasters.

In addition, to accelerate new partnerships with the private sector. Now there is a lot of international trade that depends on the private sector. Within countries a lot of people depend on small farmers and small shops. That is also a way to keep a sustainable supply of foods to the people, especially to the vulnerable people.

Deepening partnerships with Government and partners using the Hand-in-Hand approach. That is why my colleague Mr Maximo Torero, gives a brief. During the past five weeks he has had more than 20 meetings with different groups to promote the Hand-in-Hand approach. It is rapidly defining evidence-based solutions to emerging programmes. We were preparing for it, and now the UN System also uses the Hand-in-Hand approach to get business done in the field. Lining the foundation that covers and brings together all the facts and facets that FAO works on to address all three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environment.

As you can see FAO is in a good shape to adopt to the new realities. Our staff is motivated and eager to continue delivering. My colleague Mr Laurent Thomas will tell you about how efficient we have been teleworking, how many meetings were held virtually and we have also saved on travelling costs. That is also beneficial. Professional Staff have more interactions through teleworking in the digital world. They have deepened their thinking and are rethinking their business model. I think that is something that is socially beneficial that we did not realize before. We did not have a chance to foresee this.

We are fully aware of the important tasks ahead of us, we know we have a lot of new challenges and a new business model that we have to create and develop, and also new services that we have to offer, and a new life. Someone said we come back to what was before. No, now we start a new life of Generation C. This is the generation after coronavirus, we have the generation C life, this is the so called new normal. Maybe we are more dependent on the digital world, and this is also good promotion for a digital FAO. We are ready to work hand-in-hand with you in these challenging times, and beyond this period – afterwards.

I hope we meet your demands and requests as much as we can. I will say it again, let us work together, learn together and contribute together, to build a dynamic FAO for a better world.

Thank you everyone and I am very appreciative of all your support, during these past eight months. Now we are coming to 10 months. I see there are 209 participants for this Video Conference. I really appreciate your time.

My colleague, the new Directeur-de-Cabinet, Mr Godfrey Magwenzi will be in contact with you through WhatsApp and if you have any questions or information – of course you can get all the information from FAO’s website, we put all the news, updates and all the activities on the FAO website, as I told you last December. However, we will do more.

If you have any special requests through WhatsApp, you can get accurate information from Mr Godfrey Magwenzi. He was once your colleague as an Ambassador, so he should be a good bridge.

Thank you all and I will keep you updated in the near future.

Thank you.