Mr. Vice-President
Mr. Director-General of FAO
Honourable Ministers
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure and indeed an honour to express on my own behalf and on behalf of all member states of FAO, our most sincere thanks and gratitude to you, Mr. Vice-President, and through you to the President, to the Government and to the great people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, for the unforgettable hospitality and generosity extended to all participants in the 29th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The sense of history and civilization which prevails all over the place has filled my heart with a feeling of respect, pride, confidence and hope for the future development and prosperity of the whole region. This hope has its roots not only in the ancient civilizations of Mayas, Incas and Aztecs, but also in the more recent history of independence which is embodied in the name of Simon Bolivar.
Mr. Chairman, this optimism and hope is not only based in history but in the very contemporary facts. As an economist, I feel duty bound to emphasize the profound effects and deep influence of the school of thought of the dependency theory associated with the name of Raul Prebisch, on the effective economic strategies and policies of scores of countries all over the world, especially on the issues related to trade, food security and self-reliance. Furthermore, prevailing policies of zero hunger, South-South cooperation, agrarian reform and rural development and the right to food in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, are vivid examples for my optimism about the future of this region.
Mr. Chairman, we are living in a world endowed with such a global prosperity and material wealth that no one could realistically have predicted even half a century ago. The world GDP is exceeding 40,000 billion dollars; some countries enjoy per capita income of more than US$40,000 per year, but unfortunately, in the very same world and at the very same time, 3 billion people are living on an income of less than $2 per day. Every day, 25,000 children die of hunger and malnutrition; in other words, during the 5 days of our Conference here in Venezuela, 125,000 children will never again wake up from their sleep. In spite of the profound material wealth, the availability of needed technology and inputs, the world is doing very little to save these lives and to create some hope for them. Although the reason for this reluctance has been said to be lack of political will, I think we should seek solutions beyond this reason.
Mr. Chairman, the liberal economy and the so-called invisible hands of classical economists have proven unable to manage our troubled world, which is rapidly shrinking to a global village faced with unprecedented inequalities and injustice.
The humanistic and peaceful management of our world is in dire need of some very visible hearts to beat in all corners of the globe. In simple words, while freedom and competition are the seeds of efficiency and progress, respect and care for the poor and the vulnerable are the foundations of peace, development and justice. We have to transform the culture of greed to the culture of care. FAO, with its mandate of “Fiat Panis”, that is Food for All, is a good example of such a culture. FAO, with its sacred goals and its invaluable sources of knowledge and expertise, is, or better said, can be a visible heart for the world on issues related to food in security, poverty and hunger. If we did not have an FAO, it would be high time to create it.
Honourable Ministers, distinguished participants,
Now in the dawn of the third millennium, FAO is facing a very important and delicate turning point. The Organization, which during its past 60 years of service to the poor has been in the forefront of combating food insecurity and has had a great impact on the world’s agricultural development, is in need of a refurbish. In line with the whole UN System, this need has simultaneously been expressed both by its visionary Director-General and by its entire member states. The first part of the reform package of the Director-General has already commenced and the second part titled “A vision for the 21st Century” will be presented to you shortly. I am confident that you will provide your support and valuable comments to this very important document. Parallel to this, and Independent External Evaluation was proposed by the member states. The Council and Conference in 2005 have emphasized the importance of an early start to the IEE and that its report should be completed in adequate time for full consideration by the Governing bodies by November 2007. The Conference in particular stressed the mutually-supportive role of the IEE and the reform proposals of the Director-General. They “welcomed in this context, the establishment of an IEE Multilateral Trust Fund by FAO and urged all member states to contribute in making this evaluation a true product of the membership as a whole”.
Your Excellencies, the Chairman of the Council Committee for the IEE has requested me to bring this Conference recommendation to your kind attention and to request your financial contribution, even in small amounts, which symbolically demonstrates your support for this practice and its ownership by us all.
Dear sisters and brothers, let me finalize my statement by adding another touch of history to it. In the dawn of the second millennium, that is more than 1,000 years ago, the house of a Persian SUFI (Abolhassan Kharaghani) was open to the public as a guest house and at its entrance was written: “Whoever enters this house, give him/her food, do not ask his/her faith because the one who is entitled to life by the Almighty is definitely entitled to food by Abolhassan”. This is the kind of conviction which is needed to uproot hunger and misery from our world.
Thank you.
