STAFF MOVEMENTS

Mr. P.C. Choudhury, Fishery Resources Officer (aquaculture), Inland water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI), Fisheries Resources Division, transferred from FAO HQ in Rome to the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, in June 1996, to take up the post of Regional Aquaculture Officer. He replaces our colleague Mr. Imre Csavas who retired earlier this year. Mr. Choudhury first joined FAO HQ as Fishery Resources Officer (aquaculture) in 1979 and worked there until 1989. From 1989 to 1992, he served as Project Manager of the FAO/UNDP project: Institutional Strengthening of the Fisheries Sector in Bangladesh. He subsequently returned to FAO HQ, where he was responsible, among other duties, for the publication of the FAO Aquaculture Newsletter and technical backstopping of field projects in Asia. At RAP, his duties include, among others, technical backstopping of field projects and implementation of FIRIs regular programme activities in the region, in close collaboration with FAO HQ. Mr. Choudhury can be reached at the following address: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road Bangkok 10200, Thailand Phone: (662) 2817844 Fax: (662) 2800445

Mr. Mario Pedini, Senior Advisor (aquaculture development), and Dr. Manuel Martinez, Fishery Resources Officer (aquaculture), participated as members of the first of two mission to Cuba, 28 July-9 August, to assist the Government develop a national strategy for aquaculture development (see related article on page 16). Other members included Mr. E. Mizrahi (economist/planner and B. Chakalall, FAO Regional Fisheries Officer (Caribbean).

Mr. Pedini also attended the Directors Committee of the EC-funded project PRADEPESCA, 24-26 July 1996, Guatemala City, Guatemala, to discuss the possibility of Central American countries joining the FAO-developed SIPAL aquaculture information system. In addition, he participated in the second meeting of the group on species diversification of the GFCM/CIHEAM Network on Technology and Aquaculture in the Mediterranean (TECAM), 9-10 July 1996, Crete, Greece.

Dr. Devin Bartley, Fishery Resources Officer (genetic conservation) attended the Third Steering Committee Meeting, of the International network on Genetics in Aquaculture (INGA), 7-12 July 1996, Cairo, Egypt, and chaired the session on Development of Salt-Water Resistant Tilapia for Aquaculture. He also represented FAO at the Open-ended ad hoc Working Group on Biosafety for the Convention on Biological Diversity, 22-26 July, 1996, Aarhus, Denmark.

WORLD FOOD SUMMIT
Renewing Global Commitment to Fight Hunger

World leaders will assemble in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996, making a public commitment to action to eliminate hunger. The World Food Summit will provide a historic opportunity for governments, international organisations and all sectors of civil society to join forces in a concerted campaign to ensure food security for all the worlds people.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has called the World Food Summit to address both the present crisis and the challenge of the future. Over the past 50 years, agricultural production has managed to keep pace with and even outstrip population growth. Yet an estimated 800 million people are still chronically undernourished and 200 million children under the age of five suffer from protein and energy deficiencies. By the year 2030, the planet will have to nourish three billion additional people. Simply maintaining current levels of food availability will require rapid and sustainable production gains to increase supplies by more than 75 percent without destroying the natural resources on which we all depend. Achieving food security for todays hungry, who constitute 20 percent of the population of developing countries, requires policies that make it possible for them to grow or buy the food they need.

The Summit is intended to provide a forum at the highest political level to address the need for global commitment and action to address these problems. It is expected to lead to the adoption of appropriate policies and strategies at international and national levels, as well as a plan of action for implementation by all parties concerned: governments, international institutions, and sectors of civil society.

For additional information, consult the FAO Web or the FAO Gopher