Global Food Forum. Dialogue without borders

Preparations for the UN Food Systems Summit in Russia are in the final phase

The Second Sustainable Development Goal (the SDG 2) is to eliminate hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. It may be achieved only through joint efforts of governments, parliaments, business, NGOs, academia, and every citizen. The Russians “responded actively” to the current agenda, which is common to the entire global community, and therefore the Russian Federation is among the leaders of the countries, which develop proposals that can be enshrined in the Summit outcome document and the action plan." Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, made this statement at the opening ceremony of the final stage of the Russian national dialogue for the UN Food Systems Summit. 

This event, entitled "Global Food Forum 2021. Dialogue without borders", was organized on May 19-21 at the Moscow State University of Food Production (MSUFP) in collaboration with the Council for Science and Continuing Education of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, with the support of the Federation Council Committee for Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the assistance of the FAO Moscow Office. 

At the opening of the Forum, Ms Olga Timofeeva, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Dr Ivan Lebedev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr Pyotr Kucherenko, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Dr Irina Donnik, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Maxim Protasov, Head of the Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo), Dr Svetlana Smirnova, First Deputy Secretary General, Dr Pyotr Chekmarev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Dmitry Belov, Deputy Director of the Department of Latin America of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made their speeches. The plenary session ended with speeches by Dr Mikhail Balykhin, Rector of MSUFP, and Dr Vladimir Zaemsky, Vice-Rector of the Diplomatic Academy (DA) of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who spoke on behalf of the organizer of the national dialogue, Prof. Alexander Yakovenko, Rector of DA. 

The Forum was further held in the format of three working sessions, one of which, "People and food in the global world", was held by Dr Irina Tyutkova, Advisor to the Rector, Professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines of MSUPP, and Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation. In his speech, the head of the Moscow Office of FAO called MSUFP "the most authoritative and oldest university in Russia in the field of food and at the same time a young and promising partner of FAO." He also stressed that the majority of the forum's participants "devoted their entire adult life and career to the topic of the forum." 

"Indeed, the issues of nutrition, food, and related issues of health and vital activity remain in the center of attention of mankind, because this is the basis for a full and healthy life of people," Mr Oleg Kobiakov said. "They are relevant both for developing countries, countries at an intermediate level of development, and for developed countries, including the Russian Federation." 

"FAO in Russia as one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations is not engaged in technical assistance, as it was in the 90s. For us, Russia is a donor country for international development, an equal partner in providing assistance to the developing countries of the world, Mr Oleg Kobiakov continued. "At the same time, with the overall high level of development and science, as well as the food systems of Russia, of course, there is something for Russia to learn from world practice, in particular, from the abundant regulatory tools that FAO, by virtue of the mandate given to it by the member countries, develops in this area. These are the so-called "soft law" documents, various voluntary guidelines concerning, for example, certification of aquaculture products, as well as such mandatory agreed norms as the standards established by the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme Codex Alimentarius Commission. 

"This year, FAO passed the baton of the food summits it has held since 1996 to the "big UN", and the Food Systems Summit in September will be held under the auspices of UN Secretary-General António Guterres in order to highlight the global nature of the problem of hunger and the scale of the challenges facing humanity on the way to overcoming it. In all UN Member states, there are dialogues on the way to the Summit, which make it possible to determine where we are, what is good and what is not very good, what we can do, what tasks are primary and what are secondary, who are our allies and who are our opponents, objective and subjective, what we lack in terms of funding, material resources and legislation," said the head of the FAO Moscow Office in conclusion. 

Speaking on the preservation of life, health, and biodiversity, Mr Aleksandr Panin, Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences, professor, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise and Agro-safety, Moscow State University of Food Production (MSUFP), recalled that «over 60% of diseases are caused by zoonotic agents»; that «every year more than 5 human diseases emerge that were previously unknown, with most of them being zoonotic»; that «communicable diseases is the reason for the loss of about 40% of the total global livestock production.» «These serious challenges highlight the need for efficient cooperation between medical and veterinary experts to preserve health and secure food production security,» the expert underscored. 

Commenting on the statement made by Prof. Panin, Mr Oleg Kobiakov reminded the audience of the One Health concept that binds togethers human, animal, and environmental health. Given the close link between these processes, this issue is being covered jointly by the FAO, World Health Organisation (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This year, the FAO is chairing the work of the three-lateral mechanism, that has been recently joined by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). 

Mr Sergey Suchkov, Head, Department of Preventive, Personalized and Translational Medicine, Institute of Personalized Medicine, Sechenov University, shared his plans to develop a major International project on biological products. He said that the project would embody the «reasonable desire to bring together inter-university courses and faculties» of Russian universities and colleges. “It requires hard work. But we have experience. And we have the people,” the expert said. 

Mr Suchkov highlighted the 3 aspects of the envisaged programme: the trans-disciplinary one, the transnational and the trans-institutional. «There is no single university or college around the world that is able to create a biological product of the next generation phase alone,» he said. The expert noted the demand for dietary supplements in the world. He said that Russia could play an important role in satisfying the growing demand, but for that, relevant research and opportunities to enter international markets are needed. 

Ms Nataliia Karpovich, Chairman, Association of Multi-Child Families of Moscow, reminded the participants of the Forum that the situation created in the world over the last year had aggravated the existing problems: «The pandemic has once more shown that people need food — even in Moscow, needless to speak of other regions.» She also spoke on the importance of a healthy diet for full development of children and our life-long wellbeing. 

One of the Forum’s facilitators Mr Mikhail Fedorov, Deputy of the Secretary General, Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, urged the participants of the Forum to pay more attention to common goals and interests. «What is underpinning the Global Food Forum is not just nutrition. Together, we are to launch a mechanism to reach every Sustainable Development Goal,» he said. Such efforts would encompass a wide range of spheres, including education, technologies, transport, and many other. «We are in the beginning of a great journey,” Mikhail Fedorov noted.  

Background 

The Global Food Forum took in Russia on 19—21 May, 2021, as part of the country’s preparatory work for the UN Food Systems Summit. 

The Forum discussed the following topics: countries’ capabilities to address their people’s food needs using internal resources, taking into consideration national and regional production specifics and nutrition traditions; economic mechanisms of agri-production and other contiguous economy sectors; food market logistics and work; social and demographic stability; innovative development in terms of science and production; skills development. 

The Forum was attended by pepresentatives of international organisations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, including the FAO, WFP, WHO, UNESCO, Russian federal and regional state authorities and local governments, academic institutions, unions, associations, NGOs and other civil society institutions, business, as well as participants from other countries. 

As the outcome document, the Forum produced a resolution with a package of measures to create food systems and ensure their sustainable work, coherent interaction and improvement. This resolution will form part of the Russian Federation’s contribution to the Summit’s outcome documents.  

Upon the initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the Food Systems Summit will take place during the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly session in September 2021. The Summit will call for new determined efforts to change food production and consumption models in the world, reduce the number of diseases related to nutrition, make the planet healthier and achieve progress in implementing all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.