Private sector in Russia promotes achievement of Sustainable Development Goals
Photo: ©FAO/Anna Glukhova
FAO Liaison Office in Moscow jointly with the UN Global Compact Network Russia and Joint Russia-OHCHR (the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) Programme with the support of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economic Development organized the II Cooperation Forum in Moscow “SDGs. Tools for business practices”.
Within the framework of the forum, the FAO section “How partnerships strengthen food systems” was held in the hybrid (online/offline) format at the Moscow office of the SAP Digital Leadership Center and was dedicated to the prospects of partnerships between stakeholders in achieving the SDGs for which FAO bears the responsibility.
The event was also part of the independent dialogue in preparation for the Food Systems Summit, convened by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.
Special focus was given to such topics as the potential of FAO's cooperation with the private sector, the development of smart services and products, and FAO's support for young farmers oriented at achieving the SDGs.
In his opening remarks, Mr Sergey Vershinin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, drew the audience’s attention to the fact that Russian business should use of the opportunities provided by international organizations more actively. As a successful example of connecting Russian business with international organizations’ fields of work that are important to Russia, he noted the experience of engaging the Russian company PhosAgro in the development of a set of rules on the sustainable use of fertilizers under the auspices of FAO. “In addition, FAO and PhosAgro have launched a joint project to assist developing countries in strengthening the capacity of laboratories on soil analysis and monitoring the safety of fertilizers,” Mr Sergey Vershinin highlighted.
Mr Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, underlined the wide sphere of interaction between the Organization and businesses. “These include promoting the principles of smart agriculture, ensuring the cleanliness of water and soil, reduction of food loss, promoting a healthy diet, sustainable crops, responsible use of antibiotics in livestock husbandry, and, finally, preserving planet’s biodiversity.”
"The agri-food system is key to understanding the current state of food production and its use. And the key role here is played by the business," said Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, in his opening remarks. As the moderator of the session, he recalled that this year the UN Secretary-General was convening a Food Systems Summit. "This Summit is an occasion to assess where we are, to outline voluntary measures, as measures to provide food to the population are the task and responsibility of the state, so that by 2030 we are able to solve this task and move on," Mr Oleg Kobiakov stressed.
Mr Alexander Jones, Director of the FAO Resource Mobilization and Private Sector Partnerships Division, outlined the basic principles that guide the Organization, namely, “decision-making by and under the leadership of countries, beneficiary orientation, adherence to the principles of neutrality and impartiality in FAO and a high level of transparency” in his report on FAO’s Strategy for Private Sector Engagement 2021-2025.
FAO in collaboration with business has always conducted awareness-raising activities for the achievement of the SDGs. FAO has created the “Portal Connect” with the private sector, formed a group of consultants, developed a Guidance for staff and capacity development, and defined ethical standards that guide the selection of a partner in the private sector. Alex Jones noted, the procedure for considering the candidacy of a potential partner has been simplified and optimized.
Ms Elena Konnova, Head of Sustainable Development Group of the food-focused X5 Retail Group, detailed to the audience how the company contributed to the achievement of the SDGs and the national development goals of Russia. X5 provided “support to local communities through the expansion of social investments and charity programmes, promoted responsible consumption and use of resources”, popularizing the idea of “a healthy lifestyle, the availability of high-quality and healthy products.”
Within the framework of the Basket of Kindness project, launched by X5 Retail Group together with the All-Russian Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus in 2015, 66,500 customers of 1,300 Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel stores became benefactors in 2020. Thanks to them, 146.5 tons of food were collected and handed over to those in need. During the coronavirus pandemic, X5 Retail Group provided jobs for 40,000 citizens.
The company management considers the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent by 2023 equally important. They have also chosen a noble goal by intending to increase the share of recyclable solid waste to 95 percent and to increase recyclable food products that have lost their presentation before the expiration date to 40 percent.
Mr Konstantin Ivanov, URALCHEM Head of the Public Authorities Relations and International Affairs Department and FoodNet working group Executive Secretary, drew attention to the creation of a FoodNet roadmap. “We conducted a study that identified five segments of the Russian market: alternative sources of raw materials and food, smart and highly productive agriculture, smart supply chains, personalized and specialized nutrition and biologized and organic agriculture”.
As Konstantin Ivanov stressed, combining the above-mentioned elements of modernization would allow “to transform all the links” of the agricultural and food sector and to implement the “fourth agrarian revolution”, that, unlike the third revolution, that had relied on the intensification of production, would be determined by the digitalization and biologization of agriculture.
Mr Boris Morev, Head of the Corporate Academy at EkoNiva-APK Holding named ensuring high-quality training of competent specialists in the list of major challenges for the agro-industrial complex. To improve the skills of new employees, Boris Morev suggested organizing a year-round internship for future specialists starting from two months, introducing specializations in animal species from the 4th year (for example, cattle, poultry, pig breeding or small pets) and conducting regular or annual internships for university teachers on the basis of specialized enterprises.
Mr Vladimir Konstantinov, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) global network, underscored the cooperation between PwC and the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus in frames of a project of sensible use of food products. According to the expert, in Russia, 17 million tons of food that has not been disposed through food trade networks are destroyed; at the same time, only 8 thousand tons are given out for charity. The reason is the tax burden that makes it more cost-effective for private companies to physically eliminate food that has not been sold rather than hand it over to food banks to distribute among people in need.
PwC jointly with Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus elaborated a “balanced solution,” Mr Vladimir Konstantinov said. The government in adapting regulatory practices has taken first steps in the right direction. 8 June 2020 the Federal Law 172-FZ entered into force to introduce Tax Code amendments establishing profit tax preferences for companies donating resources to socially oriented non-profitable organizations.
“In the longer term we hope for tax deductions for private companies engaged in charity, as it is commonly done in many developed countries", Mr Oleg Kobiakov commented. “Yet our informal food coalition has already achieved an important victory so far, making federal law amendments a reality.”
Ms Oksana Zotova, project manager in Armenia at Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute, spoke about “Multisectoral approaches to promote school nutrition programme.” The importance of this theme is underlined by international experiences and statistics. Firstly, ”every dollar invested in school nutrition secures from 3 to 9 US dollars in profit in the future,” Ms Oksana Zotova noted. Secondly, “every additional school year spent at primary school increases the child’s future income by 5 percent.”
Mr Artem Ponomarev, CEO, Greenwise, head of Association of Alternative Food Products Producers, detailed information about FoodTech startup-incubators that are platforms for innovative development of food industry. These business-incubators provide support to small businesses and beginner entrepreneurs/designers, facilitating innovative and sustainable solutions’ entry into market.
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Recognizing the unquestionable advantage of partnerships, when associations, alliances and coalitions of like-minded people are established to achieve a common strategic goal, was the cross-cutting theme of every speech in FAO section at the II Cooperation Forum. It is the interaction among the civil society, private businesses and state, as well as International organizations such as FAO, that is key to energetically implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Background information:
The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has heightened awareness of the key role that future food systems will play in meeting the global challenges of malnutrition, poverty, use of biodiversity and ecosystems services and climate change.
The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the implementation by the states of obligations under the 2030 Agenda, and on top of them the implementation of SDG2. To draw attention to the issue, on the initiative of FAO, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is convening a Food Systems Summit in 2021 in conjunction with the High-Level Week of the 76th UN General Assembly.
The Food Systems Summit Dialogues are an essential component of the Summit preparation process. There are three types of Dialogues: Global Events of the preparation process, Internal UN Member State dialogues, and Independent dialogues. Dialogues of the third type are initiated at the local level and conducted by individual or institutions independently from state authorities allowing to engage, officially, in the Summit’s work with the help of feedback mechanism, and provide an opportunity for all citizens to participate directly in the dialogues.
For FAO, the private sector is a key partner in combating hunger. FAO is establishing partnerships with the private sector at all levels. Effective engagement with the private sector can contribute to the fight against hunger and undernutrition by expanding FAO activities in such spheres as agriculture, fishery and forestry, natural resources management, and food value chain "from farmer to consumer".
Watch the recording of FAO section.
Visit the website to learn more about FAO’s work on SDGs.