The “Pre-Food Systems Summit” (26-28 July) kicked off today at FAO’s Rome headquarters. It is a substantive preparatory event that will set the stage in view of the Food Systems Summit that UN Secretary-General Guterres has convened for the Ministerial Week of the 76th General Assembly in September.
The event confirms Italy’s role as a world leader in food security and nutrition and as a key stakeholder in the preparatory process for the Food Systems Summit, also as host country of the UN Food Security Cluster Agencies.
The opening plenary session on 26 July will be televised live by Rai 1 (15:00-17:00) and will include a speech by the Prime Minister, Prof. Mario Draghi, and a video message by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
On 27 July (17:30-18:30) there will be a working session dedicated to the G20 Matera Declaration on Food Security approved on 29 June (“From the G20 Matera Declaration to the Food Systems Summit: A Framework for Emerging Coalitions of Action”). After keynote speeches by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, the FAO Director General, Qu Dongyu, and the FAO Chief Economist, Maximo Torero, a round table moderated by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Marina Sereni, will be held.
The concluding session of the Pre-Summit is scheduled on 28 July (15:00-17:00), with speeches by a number of ministers from countries that are ready to formulate commitments regarding the Summit’s objectives and by key representatives of the “non-state actors” that took part in the preparatory process. This will be followed by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, reading the Closing Statement, while Minister di Maio will deliver a closing address.
Before the closing session (14:00), the Foreign Minister and DSG Mohammed will give statements to the press.
The full programme of the Pre-Summit is available at the following link: https://www.unfoodsystems.org/programme.php
