Tajani brings international summit on food security to Rome

Another blow was dealt by the foreign policy of the Meloni government. Next July, Italy will host the world event on food systems. Rome will receive the heads of state and government and ministers of the 193 member countries of the United Nations. The event was put on the agenda based on an Italian proposal accepted by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres. Thus, yesterday, in a face-to-face meeting in Farnesina, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, agreed that the capital will host the summit from July 24th to 26th. Stockmaking Moment». «An extraordinary result for Italy – says the Deputy Prime Minister – And a good result for our capital too. Rome will become the center of the food security dialogue.” Tajani also reiterated “that United Nations-centric multilateralism is a cornerstone of Italian foreign policy and confirmed support for the UN vision outlined in Secretary-General Guterres’ report “Our Agenda Common””.

The objective of the international event will be to offer countries the opportunity to report on the progress made at the national level since the 2021 summit (held in New York whose pre-summit was held in Rome in the summer of the same year) and on their contributions to the scope of the 2030 Agenda, in a global context profoundly changed compared to two years ago. During the event, the central role of food systems and their transformation for the progress of the SDGs (17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations) will also be highlighted in view of the appropriate international summit next September. In particular, as the host country, Italy will play a leading role in the collective discussion on the fight against food insecurity and, at the same time, will be able to present on the global stage the most relevant projects and collaborations that the Italian agri-food sector implements in the chain, in order to assist the efforts of the international community. The main UN agencies will also participate in the Rome summit, in particular, in addition to FAO, the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as well as numerous interlocutors from around the world, including producers of food, the private sector, representatives of civil society, researchers, indigenous peoples and young people.

Farnesina recalls that Italy is home to numerous UN agencies (in particular the Polo Agroalimentare di Roma, which makes the city the third most important ‘hub’ of the United Nations in the world, after New York and Geneva), and is the seventh contributor for the budget of the UN and the western country that supplies the largest number of peacekeepers. “The official announcement that Rome will be the city that will host the UN Summit on Food Systems in July is a source of pride for us – says the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida – A result for which I would like to thank First of all , the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, who, in a perfect team game such as that which characterizes the Meloni government, made the utmost effort to ensure that this important objective for the whole of Italy was achieved”. It should be remembered that global food security, already severely tested by climate change and the pandemic, is today seriously compromised by the war in Ukraine and the consequent rise in food prices. To understand better, just highlight a data from the United Nations, according to which the number of people who today cannot afford a healthy diet is equal to almost 3.1 billion. That is, almost half of the planet.