UN Food Systems Summit: preparations in Russia are well under way
On April 26, during a videoconference dedicated to shaping Russia’s stance at the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit in September, the organizer of the National Dialogue for the Summit, Prof. Alexander Yakovenko, Rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, informed the participants about the work done and outlined the action plan.
“All your proposals to elaborate and specify Russia’s stance as provided previously in writing and made orally during the discussion, will be taken into consideration. We will submit the summarized version of the paper for interdepartmental approval. Consequently, we will issue an official document for submission to FAO, which will become “our symbol of faith” in this area,” Prof. Yakovenko emphasized. At the same time, the document is flexible, and it will be possible to make changes to it, if necessary, during the “synchronization” at the Food Systems Pre-summit, which will be held in Rome in July this year.
“Food security issues, in the context of the pandemic as well, have now become particularly relevant. If earlier we talked about 180 million affected by hunger on the planet, then by the end of this year we expect 300, or even 350 million people suffering from hunger. On the whole, about a billion people in the world do not have access to a normal nutrition,” noted Mr Viktor Vasiliev, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to FAO and other UN Agencies in Rome, who is one of two representatives from Europe on the Advisory Committee for the preparation of the Summit.
Ambassador Vasiliev noted, national dialogues in preparation for this forum have already been held in 106 countries, and many of their participants expressed the wish that “the format of national dialogues will be preserved in the future to discuss the outcomes of the Summit and the tasks that each country will set for itself.”
“Today, the problem of information platforms, the digital economy and, in particular, digital agricultural sector, comes to the fore,” underlined Ambassador Vasiliev. In 2011, FAO created a platform to collect data on food production, consumption and stocks. In Russia, over 60 expert centers cooperate with this platform, and the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation is ready to facilitate the involvement of new participants in this activity.
We are now facing climate change, and this factor is increasingly “intruding politics and economy, in particular, in the production and trade of agricultural products,” which must be taken into account in our activities, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to FAO said in conclusion.
In the framework of the topic of food security, export and import of agricultural products, the environmental aspect should not be ignored, warned Dr Arkadiy Tishkov, a biogeographer, geobotanist, a specialist in the field of nature protection. Russia, the ecologist added, will soon face a threatening “carbon tax and the need to go to zero balance.” In addition, the expansion of world trade requires more careful accounting and control, in particular, of phytosanitary risks in order to prevent the intrusion of plant pests into the Russian territory.
As part of the national dialogue, the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia conducted a thematic event entitled “Giving our youth a positive image of rural areas, securing rural employment and development”, said Ms Tatiana Volodko, Head, Division of International Organizations, Ministry of Agriculture. The participants of the event — regional representatives — shared their experience in the “beautification of rural areas, improvement of living conditions and transport infrastructure and promotion of rural employment.”
The Ministry of Agriculture is elaborating “new support measures for rural areas: rural tourism, development of alternative employment opportunities, promotion of individual housing, construction of multifunctional facilities, vocational training for the leaders of local authorities.” Given the importance of the topic, Ms Volodko suggested that these aspects should be reflected in the national report.
Undoubtedly, Russia is not “trying to catch up” in the agri-food production, Prof. Alexander Yakovenko concluded. So, the ideas spearheaded by Russia and included into the Summit’s final documents “though not binding, will in any case enable us to set the fashion trends to some extent.”
Over 40 representatives from governmental institutions and authorities, academia, business, industry associations, international and non-governmental organizations took part in the videoconference.
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Comment by Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director, the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation:
Russia was one of the first countries to launch the national dialogue back in November last year and since then has significantly progressed in rolling out this process as well as in consolidating the country position for the Summit. The latter is quite a difficult task, given the many stakeholders that often have competing interests. We have been looking forward to the publication of the national report on the state of nutrition in Russia since the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported on the completion of this work.
Beside the “wide” dialogue, “independent dialogues” of a smaller scale but of equal interest are taking place in the country: they unite scientists, producers, consumers, industry unions. As FAO is responsible for one of the Summit's action tracks — “Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all”, its Office in Moscow provides Russian partners with methodical support and practical help to organize these dialogues and spread the information about the Summit.