PR90879

ROME, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame stress

need for more inclusive, sustainable and holistic approaches ahead of the

Summit in New York in September.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame led calls

for countries to make bold commitments to transforming their food systems

during opening day remarks at the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit.

Drawing parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and global hunger crisis, Prime

Minister Draghi called on delegates, who came from more than 100 countries, to

commit to ending hunger for 811 million

people[http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf] amidst a changing climate.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres added: "The pandemic, which still assails

us, has highlighted the links between inequality, poverty, food, disease and

our planet."

Against this backdrop, President Kagame announced a common position for Africa,

aligned with the continent's Agenda 2063[https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview]

and the Sustainable Development Goals[https://sdgs.un.org/goals]. The position

is based on five actions including policies such as school feeding programmes,

market development and finance, as well as encouraging farmer cooperatives and

expanding social safety net programmes.

"Food unites us all, as families, as communities, as cultures and as humanity,"

said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. "Now let's use it to unite

around the urgency and the actions that are needed to transform our world by

2030."

In pre-prepared remarks, Pope Francis said that eliminating hunger alone was

not enough, urging the world to commit to "designing food systems that protect

the Earth and keep the dignity of the human person at the center."

Referred to as the "People's Summit", it has already embarked on an

unprecedented year-long process of engagement with more than 1,000 dialogues

involving tens of thousands around the world. The results give the most

comprehensive picture to date of existing interconnected challenges – from

hunger and poverty to rural livelihoods, health and youth unemployment – as

well as opportunities.

Reflecting on Uruguay's national dialogue, Vice President Beatriz Argimón said

it was necessary to "celebrate and enhance the incredible resilience of women

and their key role for the transformation of productive systems."

Playing a central role at the Summit were youth, Indigenous Peoples, farmers

and women including Cherrie Atilano, President of Philippine agribusiness

AGREA, who said: "We want young people to have better food choices. The youth

have the power to change it because they are the now, the current, and the

present."

Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable

Development (WBCSD) announced a Business

Declaration[https://foodsystems.community/business-declaration-for-food-systems-

transformation/] that sets out the private sector's ambition towards equitable,

net-zero and nature-positive food systems that can nourish all people.  

Source: UN Food Systems Summit