FAO conference for Latin America begins with focus on food security | WORLD

The thirty-seventh Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean of the UN Fund for Food and Agriculture (FAO) began this Monday in Quito, where delegations from 33 countries will analyze various topics of interest with a special focus on food security.

The Conference, which is being held again in Quito after 73 years, will last until Friday, April 1 and includes two preparatory days before the high-level meeting begins on Wednesday, where the president of Ecuador is expected to attend, Guillermo Lasso, and the director general of the FAO, Qu Dongyu.

The debate will focus on moving towards more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.

According to the program, throughout the five days of deliberations, the progress made at the regional level in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and innovations in relation to small-scale family farming and medium-sized companies in the agri-food sector will be reviewed.

It will also analyze how to achieve better nutrition with healthy diets for all, as well as innovations in favor of agri-food systems adapted to climate change and that mitigate its effects, among other issues that will be discussed in different thematic sessions.

The Quito Regional Conference will also serve as a framework for analyzing current issues such as the region’s response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery strategies that allow facing challenges such as the fight against hunger and poverty.

The participation of delegations from Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica is scheduled. , Mexico and Nicaragua.

Also from Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

According to the Deputy Secretary of the Conference, Jorge Meza, the meeting will open an opportunity to adapt the FAO strategic framework to the conditions and needs of the region, as well as “achieve better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind”.

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