The international conference on food waste, hosted by China, has opened today in Jinan, the capital of Shandong, and has been attended by the G20 countries, the European Union and the United Nations. The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Tang Renjian, has played the host alongside representatives of the National Development and Reform Commission and others from Shandong Province.
The Jinan Conference is a useful building block for sharing strategies and policies to reduce food waste, and for attaining global economic, social and environmental development goals. The same issues were on the agenda of last June’s “G20 Dialogue on Resource Efficiency” organised by Italy, and will be raised again at the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting in Florence (17-18 September).
Today’s plenary of the conference has been attended by the Italian Ambassador to Beijing, Luca Ferrari, who has read out a speech by Senator Stefano Patuanelli, Italy’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies. Minister Patuanelli has stressed that “combatting food losses and waste must be an economic, environmental and social priority for consumers, businesses, institutions and international organisations. Italy has taken a decisive step forward not only with new regulations at the national level, but also by putting the issue on the agenda of the next G20 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting, where it will be possible to discuss waste and losses in the broader context of the sustainability of food systems.”
