FAO at Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok: furthering cooperation with BRICS+ and Shanghai Cooperation Organization

FAO is taking part in the 7th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the capital of the Russian Far East. On 6 September, Oleg Kobiakov, Director of FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, addressed as a speaker the panel discussion “BRICS+ Women Leaders Join Efforts to Promote a Fair World and Sustainable Development”.

Co-moderator Victoria Panova, Russian Sherpa, The Women 20, Vice Rector, National Research University Higher School of Economics, introduced him, noting that FAO is a recognized leader in gender mainstreaming in its activities, and the Director of the Moscow office “knows firsthand what problems dominate the world agenda, and that it needs to be addressed jointly by both women and men.”

Moderator Maria Afonina, Vice Rector for Learning Activities of Educational Centre SENEZH (“Russia – the Country of Opportunities” Project), asked the FAO representative about the role of women in the food sector, their contribution to and their impact on food security.

In his speech, Oleg Kobiakov, in particular, said that “‘offensive’ of women leaders in all spheres of human life in its good sense has been clearly manifested in recent years”.

“When I came to serve in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, almost 40 years ago, women worked only in technical positions. Those were, as a rule, typists and clerks. For the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were only two women at the level of department supervisors, and one of them held the post of the USSR permanent representative to international organizations in Geneva. As for now, the situation has changed radically. Women and girls outnumber men in junior and middle posts in the civil service and are rapidly approaching parity in leadership positions.

In the international organizations of the UN system, this situation is more favourable. For example, at FAO, two out of the three First Deputy Directors-General are women. This is Maria Helena Semedo, who oversees the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, climate and biodiversity. And Beth Bechdol, who is responsible for relations with donor and aid programmes, which are at the heart of our organization’s activities. Dr Ismahane Elouafi holds the position of Chief Scientist at FAO, and many women hold the positions of heads of structural units and country offices.

The BRICS and BRICS+ countries are among the leaders in terms of gender equality. We have also seen many wonderful women leaders in key positions in public administration, in political life, and in parliaments.

As far as it concerns food security, traditionally, in all historic periods, in all civilizations, a woman has been responsible for the food security of her family. These days, despite urbanization, scientific and technological progress, the empowerment of women, this situation does not change significantly in all countries of the world, ranging from the poorest ones to high-income ones.

The events of recent years, above all the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that women bear a disproportionate burden and suffer more. This burden must necessarily and inevitably be redistributed so that we can meet the challenge of providing adequate nutrition to the growing population of the planet. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion. In the coming months, we will reach the mark of 7 billion. Growth is steady, and the BRICS countries are also among the population growth leaders. And in order to increase the agricultural productivity and the physical volume of food, eradicate hunger and poverty, the efforts of farmers, both women and men, are required.

Our Organization keeps statistics, which show that the majority of those employed in agriculture, especially in developing countries, are women. These are farmers, and agricultural workers, and gardeners, and entrepreneurs, sellers in the markets, community leaders present throughout the agrifood chain.

Despite the large contribution that women make to agrifood chains, the gender gap is huge. The gap manifests itself in working conditions, in remuneration, in time dedicated to rest and raising children, in restoring health after the birth of a child, and finally, this affects a full return to a working career track when children smoothly move into the care of the state – nurseries, kindergartens and schools.

The fact that women in our countries bear a disproportionately larger workload, which most often goes unrecognized and therefore their efforts are unpaid, must be borne in mind by all decision-makers. At all levels, both in parliaments and in local authorities, both in executive bodies and in public organizations.

Civil society is actively developing in the BRICS countries in accordance with their historical traditions and cultural peculiarities. Its positions are being strengthened, including those of women’s organizations that are striving for genuine equality.

Organizations of the UN system, including FAO, assist them in this, both methodologically and technically. We are engaged in rule-making activities: guidelines and recommendations have been developed on how to translate them into legislation, rules and regulations that would guarantee real equality in all dimensions. Gender equality is not only about strengthening the rights and opportunities of women and caring for girls, but they are also about caring for men and boys.

Many countries of the world have already achieved de facto equality. Our countries need to strive to achieve full equality, which, firstly, is a sign of a high culture, and secondly, a guarantee of economic well-being and prosperity.

The UN’s Russian partners are actively involved in this activity. For example, the Higher School of Economics, in collaboration with FAO, has organized a series of thematic workshops, including three conferences dedicated to ensuring gender equality in the agrifood sector in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Almost 500 participants, both women and men, from government circles, local authorities, businesses and NGOs took part in the discussions. This suggests that in Russia and other Commonwealth member countries the topic of gender equality is being properly understood.”

In conclusion, Oleg Kobiakov said that “according to FAO, there is a need to mainstream gender in everything we do. This implies an educational process from infancy, starting from kindergarten. This is the guarantee that at some point, within the lifespan of one generation, we will live in a gender-equitable world.”

The recording of the discussion can be found here.

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Oleg Kobiakov also took part in the SCO section “The Role of the SCO in a Changing World”, sharing the FAO’s views on the dynamically developing cooperation between both organizations in the field of agriculture with panelists of the discussion, in particular, with Sergey Storchak, Senior banker at Vnesheconombank of Russia, and Ambassador Kirill Barsky, who served as Special Representative of the President of Russia to the SCO.