Vietnam, other FAO members seek to shape future of food security and reform regional food systems
(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam and other UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) members are gathering in Sri Lanka at the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific to discuss ways to reform agrifood systems across the Asia-Pacific region, after years of pandemic, climate emergencies, volatile markets, and economic woes that have affected millions of producers and consumers.
 A screen shot of the virtual senior official’s meeting which is scheduled to run through February 2, 2024 (Photo: FAO Vietnam) |
FAO Representative in Vietnam Rémi Nono Womdim said that Vietnam’s participation will help guide FAO’s work in Vietnam and the Asia and Pacific region as all FAO member nations share a common goal of achieving the SDGs by 2030, particularly those goals relating to hunger, poverty, and inequality.
The conference includes a senior official’s meeting which will run through this Friday and a ministerial session scheduled from February 19 to February 22.
High on the agenda of the ministerial roundtable will be discussions such as securing future food and nutrition, heeding lessons learned from crises, investment and financing for poverty reduction and modernization, and lessons learned in conserving water and food and reducing loss and waste.
Building resilience will be a key topic. A special ministerial event will focus on a number of thematic areas, such as championing modernization and digitalization for smallholders in aquaculture and livestock and an overall transformation of agrifood systems in countries across the region.
Vietnam’s key priorities are health, climate change response, environment and natural resource management, food safety, sustainable production and consumption, equitable livelihoods for all, governance, gender, and persons with disabilities.