44th SESSION OF THE FAO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Opening Speech

Your Excellency the Chairperson of the Conference

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please note, my comprehensive working report of  the Organization over the past biennium is available online, and is complementary to the statement I will now deliver. For record purposes, it will also be annexed to FAO 44th Conference Report.

To build a dynamic FAO for a better world, this was my firm commitment in 2019, which I reaffirmed in 2023 at the start of my second term, and which I remain committed to six years later.

Six years down the line, I stand before you as the Director-General of a reinvigorated, open, dynamic, modern and professional Organization.

The physical restructuring is visible, and is a mirror for the deeper internal and systemic restructuring the Organization has undergone at the very core of its function, both at headquarters and across the country offices.

On Saturday we inaugurated the redesigned entrance hall of the Circo Massimo metro station, and now renamed “Circo Massimo – FAO.”

A modern and efficient FAO Decentralized Offices Network is key to support countries in ensuring effective implementation of FAO’s priorities at the country level, and achieving the Four Betters.

Discussions during the 2024 round of the FAO Regional Ministerial Conferences addressed the evolving regional realities, challenges, gaps and opportunities, and identified further measures to better reflect the country and regional contexts.

In 2026, we will have concrete actions to strengthen country offices

In support of this process, the new report I introduced the “FAORs Annual Working Report”, following the annual Global Working Conference of FAO Representatives (FAORs) I established, reflects personal insights of the FAORs, highlighting success stories and providing actionable recommendations for effective knowledge-sharing cross-country and intra-regionally.

With three and a half months to our 80th Anniversary on 16 October, we are counting down to our celebration with 365 day's actions of our institutional renewal, building upon the transformation pathway we embarked on together in 2019, to ensure that our Organization is well placed for the next 20 years, and beyond,

Over the past six years I have made, and will continue to make, every effort to continue fulfilling the promises I set out in my Manifesto of 2019, and revised in 2023, in which I presented a roadmap for moving from vision to action.

For building a modern FAO in line with its core competencies. Working together to strengthen FAO’s capacity and capability to better serve its Members, farmers and consumers.

To this end, in June 2024, I put forward to the FAO Council the proposal to revisit the Basic Texts and FAO@80 DeepReform - as the last adjustment had started about ten years ago.

Taking into consideration that over the past decade the world  had changed so much, I believed it was imperative that the Organization’s Basic Texts reflect these changes to ensure that FAO has a legal and constitutional framework that is fit-for-purpose to assist us in continuing to deliver on our mandate to the best of our collective ability, in line with our new business model and structure.

I invite Members to consider my reform proposals seriously, holistically, and professionally, and I continue to invite you, the Ministers, to also consider my proposals from a technical perspective.

Reform has never been easy, especially when you challenge yourself to change. Evolution is only right way to adapt.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To turn the vision of the Four Betters - better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life – into reality, six years ago I started a number of core initiatives that have expanded over these years and through their implementation are leading to concrete outcomes with tangible long-term impact.

First: the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative has been successfully supporting the implementation of nationally led, ambitious programmes to accelerate agrifood systems transformations by developing a competitive agri-economy, eradicating poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and reducing inequalities for prosperity in the rural communities.

Through this global platform, we have accelerated the critical link between needs and proper investments plans, and between governments and those who can provide the required resources through the private sector, International Financial Institutions, and other mechanisms.

Second: the Green Cities Initiative is focused on improving the new urban environment, strengthening urban-rural linkages, and improving the resilience of urban food systems, services and populations to external shocks through the development of a green economy.

Third: the 1000-Digital Villages Initiative has promoted digitalization in rural areas for the benefit of farmers and local communities and is enabling them to apply, deploy and harness digital innovations and technologies, services and solutions to face a digital world.

Fourth: is our ongoing focus on the One Health approach encompassing a holistic vision to ensure the health of people, animals, plants and the agri-environment.

One Health continues to support and strengthen our work in key areas under our mandate, including sustainable agriculture, animal and plant health by addressing transboundary diseases, forests, fisheries and aquaculture.

In recognition of our leading reputation in One Health implementation, FAO was selected in February 2023 as an Implementing Entity of the Pandemic Fund.

Furthermore, as part of One Health and to further strengthen the capacity of animal health systems by effectively preventing, preparing for and responding to future pandemics caused by transboundary animal diseases, I am proposing a new innovative mechanism to be put in place by the end of the year.

Fifth: the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative has leveraged, and continues to leverage, the potential of Special Agricultural Products to ensure improved access to markets by national branding of their special products.

And Sixth: the Blue Transformation initiative is our blueprint for maximizing the contribution of aquatic food systems to sustainably nourish and feed a growing population, and we will continue to prioritize Blue Transformation as a key contributor to global food security challenges and low footprint economy.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ours is a shared vision for a more efficient, more effective and more coherent Organization, supported by enhanced governance and leadership, to ensure even more meaningful, transparent and visionary guidance as we move forward with the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31.

The unanimous endorsement by all FAO Members of the Strategic Framework was a milestone as it affirmed the confidence you placed in me to lead this Organization.

With the Strategic Framework as our roof design, we have put in place strong pillars to anchor our work, including the key thematic strategies on: Private Sector Engagement; Science and Innovation; Climate Change; and on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors.

The Strategic Framework marked the start of a transformative journey for FAO. In the years since then, we have come a long way in implementing the programmes and mechanisms we put in place.

And we have proved that our Strategic Framework is solid. Recent external assessments have recognized that FAO has a fundamental role in all of its areas of expertise and has retained its leading position in its technical focus through the Four Betters, and our innovative strategic thinking.

The Reviewed Strategic Framework 2022-31, the Medium-Term Plan 2026-29, and the Programme of Work and Budget 2026-27 provide an opportunity for us to build together on the lessons learned from implementing the Strategic Framework and to respond to evolving external trends and drivers at global and regional levels.

Since 2019, we have also set the Technical Cooperation Programme on a new course, through the implementation of new within-region common criteria for resource allocation, in line with the updated regional TCP shares.

Over the last six years, resources mobilized through TCP amounted to USD 4.5 billion, which is more than twice the total amount allocated to TCP since its creation in 1976.  In 2026 will be 50 anniversary

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Collaboration among the Rome-based agencies (RBAs) – FAO, IFAD and WFP – as well as within the broader UN system, has steadily strengthened over the past six years with particular emphasis on avoiding overlaps and increasing complementary programming.

Members have continued to underline the critical role of the UN, and in particular of our three RBAs, for the transformation of global agrifood systems.

You also recognized the importance of the tripartite MoU, signed by the three RBA Principals during our joint mission in South Sudan in August 2023, to reaffirm our joint commitment in a country that demanded our joint focus, and where we can see the concrete impacts of how our mandates complement each other.

It is important to recognize the successes of the joint RBA work, such as for example the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, hosted by FAO, which plays a critical role in aligning country level actions to address global challenges.

At the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment in July 2023, the RBAs provided technical and logistic support for the preparation of the Summit. Our joint collaboration, working closely with the Government of Italy and other UN agencies, led to the preparation of 33 sessions, demonstrating a coordinated approach towards achieving our collective objective of transforming agrifood systems. 

In late July 2025, we will have the UN Food Systems Summit +4 Stocktaking Moment in Ethiopia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The newly established Office for Women and Youth – the first within the UN system - has a cross-cutting function to mainstream women and youth across all of FAO’s work, and provides a structural home to further institutionalize the work of the FAO Women’s Committee and Youth Committee I established in 2020.

The Office also engages with relevant global initiatives, the UN wide system and other partners, further enhancing advocacy for the engagement of youth and women in agrifood systems.

I also established a new Office of Sustainable Development Goals, as well as a dedicated Office of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs – another two firsts within the UN system!

As part of the restructuring of the Organization’s structure, I also broadened the Office of Emergencies to include strengthened leadership on Rehabilitation and Resilience; the Fisheries Division to include Aquaculture; established the Office of Innovation; and consolidated the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment to build up its function for cross-sectoral coordination thereby increasing FAO’s voice and technical capacity in the field of climate change.

Those are fundamental structural reforms. You should be proud that FAO Reforms have already started in the past six years ago, and on the right track with the right orientation of Members.

Dear Colleagues,

In my 2019 Manifesto, I set out five priorities:

One: responding to major challenges

Two: driving agricultural and rural sustainable development through innovation;

Three: scaling up new partnerships and cooperative mechanisms;

Four: boosting demand-driven provision of global public goods in food and agriculture; and

Five: forging an international organization with world-class internal governance and organizational culture.

In my 2023 Manifesto, underpinning my second term of office, I continued to build on these priorities and presented the five key dimensions that would guide my vision for the subsequent four years.

First: I undertook further increase resource mobilization and scale up both traditional and new partnerships. Notwithstanding the changing funding landscape, especially over the past two years, this has been achieved!

Second: to continue to fully leverage FAO potential, advance innovation, and drive transformation to make FAO a center of excellence in digital agriculture, and establish it as a global public good offering data and science-based analysis, and flagship publications.

This has been achieved, and we have taken it one step further: to combine the latest digital technology, science and innovation, with traditional knowledge we have established the FAO Food and Agriculture Museum and Network – to be launched on 16 October to mark FAO’s 80^th Anniversary.

Third: to establish a World Food Forum.

Six years ago, I presented my vision to create a World Food Forum. Considering that 16 October is World Food Day and it celebrates the anniversary of the establishment of FAO, I moved to create a week-long World Food Forum event to ensure that issues related to food security remain high on the international development agenda.

Since its establishment, the World Food Forum has become the world’s most influential and dynamic platform for policy dialogues, investment and financing mobilization in agrifood systems. It provides an important space to present the latest science and innovation solutions across agrifood systems, acts as a propellor for global youth to act on their ingenuity, and provides an opportunity for Members to showcase their strengths and demands.

In just five days of 2024, we hosted over 200 events with more than 16,000  participants in the FAO HQ building in addition to more than 1000 kids for JWFD, with more than 50 000 session views coming from online channels, and many more through our website, social media and our YouTube and other channels, TikTok, Facebook, WeChat, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Based on my colleagues’ estimates, on key social media platforms, 2024 World Food Day and the World Food Forum campaign reached 1.7 billion accounts. These figures are a testament to the energy, collaborative spirit and truly global scope . 2025 WFF together WFD definitely and no surprisedly will historical events.

Fourth: further strengthening FAO’s capacity and capability to serve its Members. FAO continues to strengthen its work related to technical and policy support, youth and women and we have set up related functions serving Members and the general public. This has been achieved and is ongoing.

And Fifth: ongoing development of the human resources function to attract talents from all corners of the world. Six years later, we have a dynamic, multicultural, professional workforce, able to provide the highest-level technical expertise to Members.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past six years, FAO’s unique role as a global knowledge organization, as well as its distinctive position as a UN Specialized Agency, has continued to inform and influence a global response to address challenges and create opportunities for needed transformation.

Since 2019, I have optimized my participation in the UN General Assembly to ensure that food and agriculture remain an integral part of global discourse.

I delivered keynote statements at the UN Security Council and at the High-Level Political Forum, providing policy recommendations and solutions to address global food insecurity, and the humanitarian- development-peace nexus, both of which reflect FAO’s visibility, credibility and impact, as well as the trust and recognition of the international community.

FAO drives economic cooperation within the G20 and the G7, APEC, as well as many other international fora, by tackling global food insecurity and poverty through agrifood systems transformation, and bringing food security back to the center of global discussions.

Last year, under the Brazilian Presidency of the G20, we supported the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty by hosting its Support Mechanism.

In the G7, FAO has championed, for example, innovative funding solutions like the Financing for Shock-Driven Crises Facility, providing anticipatory, rapid-response financing to prevent food crises.

A further example is the launch, in response to a request by the G20 Leaders, by FAO, together with the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, of a report in April 2023 on assessing the global responses to the food security crisis.

Over the past six years, FAO has worked closely with the UN Climate Change Conference COP Presidencies to convey the coherent and consistent message that agrifood systems transformation offers concrete, scalable solutions to the climate crisis. Farmers are real contributors to tackling natural disasters.

Dear Colleagues,

My first term was founded on the Four Es - V1.0: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Extraordinary and Excellency.

And my second term has progressed on these principles towards the Four Rs - V2.0: Recovery, Reform, Rebuild and Renaissance.

We stand at a unique inflection point.

We are standing amidst unprecedented potential.

Breakthroughs in science, digital tools, and sustainable practices offer pathways we could not have imagined just a few years ago.

This Conference is our opportunity to harness this momentum – to transform 'what if' into 'how we can'.

To build agrifood systems that nourish every person, protect our precious planet, and empower communities for generations to come.

These have been the building blocks with which we have started writing a new chapter in FAO’s history, together.

A short chapter that points to a profound Renaissance, with transformative change from the 8th floor Cafeteria and Terrace, to deep down in the Metro station (Circo Massimo – FAO), from Rome Headquarters to the Country Offices, as an open-minded, professional and modern service provider. 

Let this 44th Session be remembered as the moment we saw hope amid difficulties, and we collectively chose a positive approach - forward thinking and real multilateralism.

Let us keep on with our common original aspiration to think, learn, and contribute together for the benefit of our Organization, humanity and our planet.

Let us carpe diem to continue writing this noble chapter, together, as a testament to FAO’s legacy over the past 80 years and for the next 80 years to come, and beyond.

Never give up until our mission is accomplished!

Thank you.