Press Release 01/56
ITALY PROPOSES RIMINI TO HOST
THE WORLD FOOD SUMMIT: FIVE YEARS LATER -
FAO COUNCIL TO DECIDE
Rome, 24 September - The Italian Government has formally proposed to the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that the World Food Summit: five
years later should be held in the Adriatic resort town of Rimini from 5 to
9 November 2001, FAO said today.
In a letter addressed to FAO Director-General, Dr. Jacques Diouf, from the
Prime Minister's office, the Italian Government expressed its willingness
to bear the additional financial costs resulting from the move of the Summit
to Rimini. Italy proposed that an agreement should be signed with FAO in
this respect.
The Italian proposal has been forwarded to the members of the FAO governing
Council. A decision is expected by the beginning of next week.
The purpose of the World Food Summit: five years later is to review the progress
made towards the eradication of hunger and to raise both the political will
and the financial resources to accelerate the fight against hunger.
At the World Food Summit in 1996, representatives of 185 nations and the
European Community pledged to work towards eradicating hunger. As an essential
first step, they set a target of reducing the number of hungry people - still
more than 800 million - by half by 2015.
Unfortunately, current data indicate that the number of undernourished is
falling at a rate of only 8 million each year, far below the average rate
of 20 million per year needed to reach the World Food Summit target. Although
headway has been made and some striking success stories exist in individual
countries and communities, much remains to be done, FAO said.
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For further information, please contact:
The FAO Media Office
Tel: 39 06 5705 2232
E-mail: media-office@fao.org
Related links
World Food Summit: five years
later
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