PRESS RELEASE
New York, Friday 9th September 2022. On the run-up to the UN General Assembly, Italy gathers 70 countries to discuss Food Security at the UN.
In its capacity of chair of the UN Group of Friends for Food Security and Nutrition, Italy has convened a new meeting with representatives from 70 countries in attendance.
The event was kicked off by the opening remarks by UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, followed by speakers from the three UN agro-food agencies (FAO, WFP, and IFAD, all headquartered in Rome), from the Committee on World Food Security and the UN Coordination Hub of the Food Systems Summit.
The meeting aims to assess the current global food emergency, worsened by the war in Ukraine and having devastating impacts on supply chains and food prices, now soaring due to an unprecedented inflation. Concerns are sparked especially by more fragile areas such as the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, where millions are pummeled by famine. These pressing topics are on top of the agenda of the world leaders who will be gathering in New York as of September 19.
“Thanks to multilateral diplomacy and the good offices of the UN Secretary General Guterres, a crucial deal on grain was stricken in Istanbul. New initiatives such as the G7 Global Alliance, the EU corridors of solidarity, and the ‘Global Food Security Call to Action’ were set into motion”, commented the Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, Ambassador Maurizio Massari.
The main challenges to tackle on which the event focused are to keep the food supply chain open, ensure resilient value and food chains, to promote investments for a sustainable transition that prioritizes rural communities, to accelerate the implementation of the blueprint issued by the UN Food Systems Summit and its Pre-Summit held in Rome in 2021.
This event also marked Poland’s joining the Group of Friends as new member.
