FIJI Catalyzing Agrifood Systems Transformation through the Hand in Hand Initiative

Excellences,

Ladies and gentlemen,

When we speak of country and the regional level investments plans, we need to keep in mind that we are working with the Ministers of Agriculture and Food. I have a long experience of working with the Ministry of Agriculture in China, and I know the limited resources available. Even the US Department of Agriculture has limited resources. But we need to focus on what we have to offer as a comparative advantage, as well as the professional, technical, network and institutional solutions to advance our investor potential. The private sector investors depend on our professional services, as do other international financial institutions, such as the World Bank or Regional banks, Asian Bank or African Development Bank and others. So, that is a way to lead the change based on our comparative advantage.

Over the last five years, we have successfully organized dedicated Hand-in-Hand sessions worldwide, as well as three Hand-in-Hand Investment Fora during the annual World Food Forum hosted at FAO headquarters, which provides our Members with an important global forum to present their sustainable agrifood investment opportunities to development partners, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions and private sector investors.

I am pleased to have seen an increased interest from these potential partners over the past five years.

Thanks to our collective efforts, since 2022 more than 3.8 billion US Dollars have been committed, or in the process of negotiation, for agrifood investments in support of national development priorities.

So, as you can imagine, in only three years we attracted USD 3.8 billion investment in business with the investment forum. You cannot get so much money from the donors, donors can give small money, it is very important, but it is just a stock to build on.

To date, the initiative is active in 72 countries around the world, with five regional initiatives targeting regions where poverty and hunger are at the highest, including the SIDS.

With specific reference to SIDS, 13 countries have joined the Initiative, most of which have already presented their investment plans.

In addition, three of the regional initiatives are either focused on, include, or will include SIDS in their next phase.

Several Pacific SIDS are implementing the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to boost their production of important crops such as cocoa, coconut, cassava, taro and poultry. 

Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu have already presented their investment plans, which together amount to over USD 100 million, to be gradually implemented over a 10-year period through innovative and blended finance mechanisms, and the matchmaking processes. 

FAO provided technical support to Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to mobilize 10% of their resource gap and provided capacity development on economic and financial analysis to support the preparation of sound projects.

At last month’s Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, Papua New Guinea and Samoa presented their investment plans together, paving the way for potential collaboration on specific crops.

I am also pleased to learn that countries are looking beyond the Pacific, and connecting with experts worldwide, including in China with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences

FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol recently visited the Academy as she is responsible for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, as well as Plant Production and Protection, Land and Water, and Emergencies and Resilience, among others.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Through the new, reinvigorated programme of action set out in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, agreed to at the 4th International Conference on SIDS in May this year, FAO will continue to support SIDS in their path towards Resilient Prosperity.

After this Summit, FAO was the first organization that implemented the conclusions and the Declaration, in line with our mandate, together with different regions and different countries.

So that is a way we have the UN Secretariat and political agenda to support Members. And FAO, through our professional expertise and capacity, will support Members to implement the Declaration that we will help achieve the SDGs. 

The FAO Hand in Hand Initiative can provide a key contribution to deliver on multiple priority actions under this new 10-year framework, including, among others:

• building economic resilience;
• scaling up climate action and support;
• the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources;
• data collection, analysis and use; and
• scaling up science, technology and innovation.
  

For the first time, we also invited the FAO Director of Statistics, because we need to assist the SIDS with fundamental normative work, before formulating development and investment plans.   

The FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative also represents a concrete contribution to the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent because it was designed to specifically target SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) - which represent over 90 FAO Members. So, in total we have 194 members, of which 90 of them are in these three groups.

I have no doubt about the transformative potential of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, especially in the Pacific region.

Going forward, FAO will continue to strengthen its support for SIDS, and other vulnerable countries to achieve the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life - leaving no one behind!

 Four betters is a way of thinking, it is a philosophy, to guide overall the transformation of agrifood systems and encourage development, especially the Blue Economy. 

I wish you a good debate and discussions leading to concrete recommendations for FAO to consider further, and to advocate for the SIDS development towards the 2050 Strategy.

I wish you all a fruitful meeting.

You can count on me, count on FAO and on my colleagues here.

Thank you, thank you to Deputy Director-General Bechdol, and thank you to all the colleagues.