Caesar attends Global Food Conference in Socialist Republic of Vietnam
The conference, which will take place in the city of Hanoi from Monday, April 24, to Thursday, April 27, will focus on the transformations needed to enable food systems to overcome the overlapping and interrelated crises now facing humanity.
Hanoi, Vietnam, April 24, 2023 The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is participating in the Fourth Global Conference of the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Program. Until the end of the week, stakeholders from diverse regions will discuss how to tackle the multiple crises facing humanity by building sustainable, resilient, healthy, and inclusive agrifood systems.
The meeting was jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in coordination with other governmental and civil society organizations, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is hosting the meeting, which will also be attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry, and Labour of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Hon. Saboto Caesar. Minister Caesar and colleagues from several continents met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Vietnam to dialogue on food production systems.
The One Planet network is a global community of practitioners, public policymakers, and experts, including representatives of government, business, civil society, academia, and international organizations, that promotes sustainable production and consumption. This is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the international community has established as part of the 2030 Agenda.
Discussions in the Hanoi forum will focus on the transformations needed to enable food systems to contribute to overcoming the overlapping and interrelated crises now facing humanity due to climate change, loss of biodiversity, inflation, the energy situation, hunger, malnutrition, and the war in Eastern Europe.
South-South cooperation in a roundtable discussion
In collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), as well as Grow Asia and the Food Action Alliance—the two multisectoral platforms promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to strengthen food security—IICA will co-convene an Interregional Ministerial Roundtable on Digitalization and Investment for the Transformation of Food Systems on April 25.
Ministers from various countries will participate in the roundtable, sharing national and regional experiences in designing and implementing digital solutions, promoting collective action, and fostering investments to transform food systems. In particular, participants will discuss South-South cooperation models and best practices in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, in addition to opportunities for reciprocal cooperation that will facilitate accelerated action.
Representing IICA at the meeting will be Director General Manuel Otero, who will deliver a message, and Special Advisor to the Director General, Jorge Werthein.
As an organization based in the Americas but with a global outlook and as an entity that is advocating for greater South-South cooperation, IICA has been pursuing relevant actions to promote closer engagement between the Americas, Africa, and Asia, something that is fundamental to ensuring global food security.
Last year, IICA convened the first Africa-Americas Ministerial Summit on Agrifood Systems at its headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, in collaboration with AGRA and the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD). IICA works for the fulfillment and promotion of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
