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FAO Liaison Office for North America

INARC celebrates FAO’s roots in North America, and outlines priorities for the future

27/10/2020

22-23 October 2020, Québec City/ Washington, D.C./ Rome - Many of the global challenges that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was set up to address 75 years ago, such as chronic undernourishment, are still prevalent today, as highlighted by participants of the 6th Informal North American Regional Conference.

The Informal North American Regional Conference (INARC) was developed in 2010 as a forum for the FAO and the North American Region, compromising of the United States and Canada, to strengthen collaboration. The meeting is held every two years and is hosted by one of the two Member countries on a rotating basis. During the conference, representatives from both countries share their priorities on FAO’s work and activities globally and their views on effective institutional governance. While INARC is informal, the priorities detailed in the INARC report is a declaration of the North American Region’s views regarding FAO’s strategic programming.

The 6th INARC, hosted by Canada, was opened by a public commemorative ceremony on FAO’s 75th Anniversary featuring, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada's Minister of Agriculture, Agriculture and Agri-Food (AAFC); Sonny Perdue, United States Secretary of Agriculture; QU Dongyu, Director-General, FAO; Nadine Girault, Minister of International Relations, Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie, Québec; and was moderated by Chris Forbes, Deputy Minister, AAFC. 

During the ceremony, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized the significant roles Canada and the U.S. played in FAO’s formation. FAO was conceived in Hot Springs, Virginia, and its first session was held in 1945 at Chateau Frontenac in Québec City. Canada has worked with FAO "towards finding solutions to the most pressing issues of our time and finding new ways of delivering support to those in need," Director-General QU said. The U.S., FAO's largest contributing country, he added "is a key partner, collaborating across all our areas of work, from global food trade and safety to disaster assistance and resilience building to advancing science and innovation for taking global agriculture forward." 

The 6th INARC consisted of two days of discussions on topics including emerging threats, FAO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, partnerships, innovation, trade, the new strategic framework and the organization’s technical and scientific work. Government representatives from Canada and the United States underscored the importance of FAO’s scientific standard-setting work on food safety and plant and animal health, among other topics. The meeting was co-chaired by Frédéric Seppey, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Market and Industry Services Branch at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and Ted McKinney, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The session also featuring a public side event themed “Food systems in the time of COVID-19: North American perspectives on how FAO can contribute to greater resilience.” Senior government officials from Canada and the U.S., as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society mechanisms of the U.N. Committee on World Food Security and senior leaders from the FAO discussed COVID-19 impacts and how FAO can build resilience to future shocks.

 

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