The Session will take place in Łódź on 10-13 May and will be hosted by Poland.

It is planned that during the visit paid by the FAO Director-General to our country he will also meet with Mr. Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, and Mr. Zbigniew Rau, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The topics of today’s meeting

The talks during the meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development concerned the cooperation between Poland and the FAO. The issues related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and global food security were addressed, particularly in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“We are meeting at the difficult time for the attainment of the ambitious goals which we have set for ourselves in the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda as the international community. The processes of transforming food systems towards more sustainable ones are threatened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising production input prices, while the Russian aggression against Ukraine is another factor threatening global good security,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk pointed out.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture stressed that Poland expected the FAO to become involved in analyses and proposals of solutions to support agriculture in Ukraine and to mitigate the adverse impacts of the war on global food security, in accordance with the mandate of the FAO.

The position of the FAO

Director-General Qu Dongyu stated that global food security had already been threatened before the COVID-19 pandemic and that the rising production input prices and the war in Ukraine had additionally aggravated this situation. He stressed Poland’s role as a significant food producer in actions to safeguard food security in the region.

The position of Poland

Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk declared readiness to cooperate with the FAO to respond to the impacts of the war in Ukraine on global food security.

During the meeting Poland also presented the Polish priorities for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2, “Zero Hunger”, noting that Poland would take efforts to ensure that the pandemic and the impacts of the war in Ukraine did not worsen the conditions for the implementation of these assumptions.