Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, let me express my gratitude to my dear friend, Minister Fuad Al Sajwani, and to the leadership of the Sultanate of Oman for organizing this important event.
I would like to start by referring to some numbers regarding malnutrition in the world, and particularly here in the Near East and North Africa region, what we call in FAO the NENA region.
As you know, hunger has been increasing in the world over the last 3 years, we now have 821 million malnourished mainly due to the effects of conflicts and the impacts of climate change, especially prolonged droughts. But today I want to highlight another big malnutrition challenge, which is the rise of overweight and obesity. Unfortunately, we have the paradox of obesity rising fast.
About 2 billion people in the world are overweight nowadays. Out of them 670 million are obese adults. This is about one out of 8 adults is obese.
Here in this region, the proportion of obese adults is even higher about 30%, that means one out of 3 are obese.
The growing rates of obesity is happening at a huge socio-economic cost. Obesity is a risk factor for many non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer.
Estimates in the world indicate that the global economic impact of obesity is about USD 2 trillion per year (near 3% percent of the global GDP). This is equivalent to the global impacts of smoking and also the impact of conflicts.
So obesity puts a high pressure on the health budget of every country. Nowadays, and this is growing very rapidly all around the world,
The main reason behind the rise of obesity is that current food systems have increased the availability and accessibility of processed food that is very caloric and energy-dense, high in fat, sugar and salt. Healthy food like fruits vegetables and fish are more difficult to access.
This is particularly worrisome when countries have an excessive dependency on food imports, and particularly here in the gulf countries.
We need to put an alert on the consumption of these industrialized products with high level of sugar, salt and saturated fats.
We need to take action to transform food systems in a way that produces healthy and nutritious food.
Countries need to face and tackle obesity as a public issue, not as an individual problem. Specific legislation and public policies are very important in this regard.
Let me share with you the example of Chile that I just visited in South America. The country has adopted a legislation to provide more complete and understandable food labelling
to inform the consumers better, and also to restrict the advertising of unhealthy products to children.
I ask the members of this forum, participating representatives of governments and the private sector to discuss ways to overcome obesity that became a global epidemic issue nowadays.
Excellencies,
Here in the Near East region, water scarcity is certainly one of the main challenges for agriculture production and development.
It is imperative to scale up policies and investments that improve the sustainability and efficiency of water use in the agriculture sector.
As you know, FAO has been implementing a regional initiative to advise governments and the private sector on the adoption of modern technologies and institutional solutions in this regard.
Next April, FAO is convening a Conference in our regional office in Cairo to discuss water scarcity and related issues. This conference is in partnership with the League of Arab States, the Arab Organization for Agriculture and other regional institutions. On behalf of FAO and Ibrahim, DG of AOAD, I want to extend an invitation to all of you to attend this event in cairo in April.
The objective is to take stock of the progresses in the region, share experiences and discuss some innovative solutions on water management.
The high-level segment of the meeting is expected to gather ministers of water and agriculture of the Arab region to launch a new generation of policies and investments for sustainable water management.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Promoting the consumption of fish is an important way of tackling malnutrition, as well as promoting economic growth and alleviating poverty.
During the last decades, total fisheries and aquaculture production has significantly increased in this Region, going from 2.2. million tonnes in 1996 to about 6 million tonnes in 2016, almost 3 times increase in 10 years. The bulk of the increase originated from capture fisheries (going from 2 to 4 million tonnes), but aquaculture is also growing. Despite this increase in fish production, the region is dependent on imports of fish and fishery products to satisfy domestic demand, with a per capita fish consumption increasing from 5.9 kilogram to 12.1 kilogram during the period 1996-2016.
According to the projections of OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018, capture fisheries growth in the next decade is limited to 0.5% per year, due to the reduced fish stocks. But aquaculture production is set to increase by another 50% over the next ten years, with high growth expected particularly in this region. This is a great opportunity for private investments. In apparent per capita consumption terms, it is expected to grow by 5% and reach nearly 13 kilos. But also , also thanks to a further increase of imports. This is a great opportunity for the private sector.
FAO plays a leading role in international fisheries policy, including through our Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and related sub-committees on Fish Trade and Aquaculture.
FAO also works with a wide range of partners in this region, to promote the growth and sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in the world.
This is includes the implementation of the what we call Blue Growth Initiative, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and also the Port State Measures Agreements, the PSMA.
As some of you know, the PSMA entered into force in July 2016 and is the first binding international treaty designed to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
As of today, 81 countries have already adhered the PSMA. And other countries are in the process of ratifying the Agreement. In fact, we have just been informed that Fiji and Viet Nam have completed their ratification process, bringing the total number of parties up to 83. Our goal is for all countries to sign this important agreement and we intend to reach 100 parties before the next Meeting of the PSMA Parties in Santiago de Chile in June of this year.
I am sorry to say that in this region only 4 countries out of 20 are already part of the PSMA (Libya, Mauritania, Oman and Sudan). (Oman is the only country on the Gulf)
We need all countries around the world to be part of the PSMA. This way, the Agreement can be highly effective for all regions. If a country is part of the PSMA, but its neighboring countries are not, vessels will continue to find places to disembark their illegal catches. This is not good for the world and not good for the country.
FAO has a global capacity-development programme to support countries to strengthen their policy, legal, institutional and operational frameworks needed to fulfil the requirements of the PSMA. We are at your disposal to support.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am now in the final stretch of my second and last term as FAO Director-General. The next FAO Conference that will be in HQ in June will elect the new DG. So far, we have 5 candidates, but more are expected, before the end of February that is the deadline for presenting candidatures.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the countries of this region for all the support given to FAO over the last 7 years particularly I want to thank Oman for its support in fisheries matters.
Your highness, Excellency thank you so much
Together, we have been able to define clear priorities for promoting sustainable agriculture and for making FAO more efficient and effective.
Let me highlight that FAO is nowadays facing a big challenge regarding financial resources like almost all UN agencies.
Almost 99 percent of the regular budget of the Organization is earmarked either for staff and maintenance costs or for the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP). These are small grants that we allocate as seed money.
And year after year, staff and maintenance costs have been increasing, despite the policy of zero nominal growth that some member countries have imposed on the Organization.
Basically, I have to say that FAO has no flexibility at all to allocate resources from our regular budget to address some important challenges for food and agriculture around the world. So the Organization depends more and more on your voluntary contributions to move forward on substantial issues, including almost all technical assistance provided to our member countries.
Let me give an example very close to you: the fight against the Red Palm Weevil, a pest that is very dangerous to the sustainability of the palm production particullarly in this region. If we don’t get your support we can do very little.
In March 2017, FAO organized a Conference on Red Palm Weevil that produced a strategic framework for the management and containment of the pest.
We are working on this and have also launched a trust fund to collect resources for the implementation of the strategy framework.
Next March, FAO, the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates are organizing a Red Palm Weevil Donor Meeting, where we hope to secure more financial resources for fight against the Red Palm Weevil.
I hope to see many of you there, including representatives from the private sector. And want to take this opportunity to thank the sultanate of Oman for the generous contributions it already did,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me also take this opportunity to mention three important priorities for FAO in the first semester of 2019.
The first issue is innovation. As many of you know, we just organized last November the First International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation in FAO HQ.
There were over 540 participants from all member countries, international organizations, civil society, the private sector.
And just last week, in Berlin, FAO actively participated in the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2019, which focused on
digital innovation.
Many countries from this region were represented, and the final Communiqué of the green week requests FAO to take the lead in many aspects regarding the use of digital technologies in agriculture, including fisheries and aquaculture.
This means the elaboration of an impact assessment of the opportunities and risks presented by digitalization in the agriculture sector.
We are already in contact with the World Bank and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) to move forward in the implementation on this technical assessment that will allow us to know what countries are doing in the subject and – more importantly – what they need to do.
Innovation will be an important subject in the implementation to activities related to UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028. Next May in Rome, we will host the big Conference to officially launch the UN Decade of Family Farming. You are all invited to participate.
The second issue I want to highlight is the growing importance of Food Safety. There is no Food Security without Food Safety, especially when we need to move to more consumption of fruits, vegetables and fish.
In a couple of weeks in February, FAO will co-organize the First International Food Safety Conference in Addis Ababa, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union. You are also invited to attend.
Another Conference on Food Safety will take place in April, in Geneva, to discuss the impacts of food safety on trade. The second conference is being co-organized by FAO, WHO and also the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The third important issue that I want to mention is rural revitalization. With the growing urbanization of rural population, rural development is rapidly gaining in importance. If we want to keep our youth in the countryside, we need to provide them infrastructure and services that nowadays they can only find in the big cities.
In May, FAO will support the Rural Revitalization Conference, in Beijing, which will discuss the role of rural development and rural-urban linkages in the context of rapid urbanization.
So we have a busy agenda in this first semester of 2019, and I count on the support of countries of this region to move forward on many issues.
I wish all of you a successful event and fruitful deliberations in this Forum, and I look forward for the results of your discussions.
Excellencies,
In closing, allow me to pay tribute, once more to the strong partnership between FAO an the Members of this region.
Looking back at the last 7 years, I take pride in the numerous initiatives and activities we have undertaken together.
But there is a need to continue our collaboration and double our efforts, in order to make sure that this region is on the right track to achieving the Sustainable development Goals.
Because, this region is full of potential to do it in time.
For the good of the people and future generations of this region, I call upon all countries to be champions in pushing for regional and cross country collaboration.
In that respect, I call upon the wise leadership of Sultanate of Oman to work hand in hand with us to ensure that all countries of the Gulf follow their good example and join the Port State Measure Agreement.
And I call on all the distinguished FAO Member countries from the region, and outside, present here today, to take full advantage of the technical expertise of our organization, today and in the future. We are very proud to work with you.
Excellencies,
In closing, allow me to pay tribute, once more to the strong partnership between FAO and the Members of the NENA Region.
Looking back at the last 7 years, I take pride in the numerous initiatives and activities we have undertaken together.
But there is a need to continue our collaboration and to double the efforts, in order to make sure that this Region is on the right track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Because, despite all the conflicts and crisis, this Region is full of potential.
For the good of the people and future generations of this Region, I call upon all Countries to be champions in pushing for regional and cross-country collaboration.
In that respect, I call upon the wise leadership of Sultanate of Oman to work hand in hand with us to ensure that all Countries of the Gulf follow their good example and join the Port State Measures Agreement.
And I call on all the distinguished representatives of FAO Member countries from the Region, present here today, to take full advantage of the technical expertise and experience of FAO, your Organization, today and in the future.
I thank you for your attention and wish this forum all the success
