Closing statement by
H.E. Romano Prodi,
Chairman of the Summit- 17 November 1996

(to view the video click on the image)

These past five days have been for all of us an important milestone, a milestone in our common path toward lasting food security for all the world's people. With the adoption of the Rome Declaration and the World Food Summit Plan of Action we have concluded a negotiating process. We have achieved significant consensus on what needs to be done to relieve the suffering of those who are hungry and to ensure accessible food supplies for an expanding population in the years ahead. We have succeeded in focusing the attention of today's busy world on the fact that hundreds of millions of people still live in chronic hunger.

This is a shameful reality, often forgotten, continuing even as thousands of others may suffer and die in the course of events such as those unfolding this week in Central Africa. Before the eyes of the world we have made a public commitment to take the steps that will move us forward closer to the ultimate goal of "food for all". We have done all these things and yet it is only now that the real work begins. The Plan of Action gives us a clear indication of the work at the community level, at the regional level and internationally. It speaks of national responsibility and international solidarity, the involvement of civil society and the involvement of the private sector, the need for investment, policy review, serious attention to the role of women. There is much to be done.

The Rome Declaration calls upon us to reduce by half the number of chronically undernourished people on the Earth by the year 2015. Many have said that this goal is too modest, that it would leave behind too many millions. This is fair criticism and one that I take to heart. I think that as we go out from here this evening and return to our homes and to our daily routines, it is incumbent upon us to incorporate the commitments we have made here in November 1996, to allow them to inform and influence the work we do whether it be government, community service, farming, advocacy, the private sector, or emergency relief. If each of us gives his or her best I believe that we can meet and even exceed the target we have set for ourselves. Twenty years from now, and I wish everybody may be here twenty years from now, that is how history will judge the World Food Summit of 1996.

Thank you very much to all of you.

I am proud and happy to declare closed this wonderful meeting.