Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Attends UN FAO Committee on World Food Security

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs attended the special video conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Committee on World Food Security held from the 13th to the 15th of this month in celebration of World Food Day on the 16th.

The Committee on World Food Security is an intergovernmental body established in 1974 to discuss food security and nutrition. Each year, 138 member countries and international organizations participate to share national policies and best practices and discuss policy directions. This year’s regular meeting was postponed to next year to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and instead, a special video conference in the form of a forum was held during the week of World Food Day.

On the first day of the meeting, FAO and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) explained that donor countries need to bear an additional $14 billion annually by 2030 to resolve hunger and food insecurity. The World Bank (WB) expressed hopes for increased efficiency of public support and expansion of social safety nets, while the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) youth representative spoke about the desire for the voices of youth and women to be reflected in agricultural and food policy decision-making processes.

On the second day, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), attended and explained the major challenges related to food security and nutrition caused by COVID-19 and the responses of various countries. On the final day, based on the Committee’s recommended “Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems for Nutrition,” the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) exchanged opinions, and the significance of the upcoming 2021 UN Food Systems Summit was emphasized.

Korea, in particular, introduced the event commemorating World Women Farmers’ Day held on the 15th in relation to one of the five key principles of the voluntary guidelines, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and presented the opinion that raising awareness of gender equality in rural communities is important for enhancing the rights of women farmers beyond laws and systems.

Meanwhile, World Food Day is observed annually on October 16 to raise awareness of food security and promote international cooperation to solve food issues. It was established in 1980 by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly following a proposal by FAO in 1979. This year’s World Food Day theme is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together,” carrying the message to ensure food access for vulnerable groups and to support the heroes (food heroes) responsible for production, processing, and distribution throughout the food system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.