The potential of the region in the scope of agriculture

“The Region of Europe and Central Asia plays a key role in global agriculture and safeguarding food security,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk said as the Session was opened on Wednesday.

“We are not only a significant producer of agricultural raw materials and food but also – as the FAO Director-General stressed during the previous Session of the Conference in Tashkent – a source of new ideas and inspirations in the field of agriculture and food systems for the whole word. Cooperation and an exchange of knowledge and experiences provide an opportunity for many countries and regions to overcome structural problems, to develop agriculture and to transform the food system. Poland is an example of a successful transformation as a result of which in the early 21^st century, due to modernisation of the agriculture sector, we have gone the path from an importer to a net exporter of food,” the head of the Ministry of Agriculture explained.

As a high-ranking representative of the Government of the Republic of Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk appeared in the first session of the Conference, while on the previous day he took part – along with Mr. Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General, and Mr. Zbigniew Rau, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs – in the opening ceremony.

The role of cooperation

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed the role of regional cooperation and the need to jointly seek solutions to existing problems.

“Our region has enormous resources and a material and intellectual potential. Our internal diversity and, at the same time, our ability to refer to common traditions and values should ensure our success and offer support to countries outside the region. In this context, what is particularly dangerous is the abandoning of creative cooperation in favour of an armed conflict which brings human and material losses, civilisational backwardness and lost development opportunities,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk said.

In his speech, he also referred to the importance of the UN bodies for international cooperation.

“It is very important for us that the FAO should remain an active forum of regional and global cooperation in the field of agriculture and food safety. The members of the European Regional Group willingly share their experiences and knowledge and they wish to become actively involved in the work of the Organisation,” Deputy Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk stressed.

The tasks of the FAO Regional Conferences

The FAO Regional Conferences for Europe are established by the FAO Conference and convened every two years, just as the Regional Conferences for other regions are. The FAO Regional Conference for Europe is attended by all the FAO members from the Region of Europe and Central Asia (53 countries and the EU), observers from the individual United Nations bodies and the representatives of other international organisations and international nongovernmental organisations.

About food systems at the 33^rd FAO Session for Europe

The leading topics of the 33^rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe include: “The road to transformative agrifood systems in Europe and Central Asia – Regional actions to implement the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31” and “Sustainable food value chains for nutrition, a practical approach for transforming agrifood systems for healthy diets in Europe and Central Asia”. The issues of the regional perspectives on the current FAO work will also be addressed. Moreover, on the initiative of a group of Member States, the item concerned with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was included in the agenda of the Conference.

The 33^rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe is held in Łódź on 10-13 May 2022. Poland hosts the Conference for a second time. Previously, Poland organised it in 1988 in Cracow.