TURKMENISTAN International Conference on Food Security in the context of Climate Change Speech

Good morning,

Salam Aleikum

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am so pleased to join you today here in Ashgabat and I wish to thank the Government of Turkmenistan for organizing this important dialogue.

Today, we have not only the Ministers of Agriculture, but also the Ministers of Environment, the Ministers of Health, and many others.

Since I took office as FAO Director-General, I have paid attention to this region, and sub-region, together with my colleagues, including Vladimir Rahkmanin, former Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, which stretches from London to Vladivostok. This is the largest region, and one of the five regions of FAO. It is so diverse, not only in climate, but also in biodiversity.

Food is essential and the right to food is a basic human right.

This region has held a very special value for global food security for many years, ever since the period after World War II.

Last year, in 2025, we marked the 80th anniversary of FAO. All of us had the opportunity to enjoy peace, and have been facing complicated geopolitics over the past 80 years.

First, we enjoyed the victory of World War II against fascism, and soon after that the Cold War started heavily affecting this land, even today.  After the Cold War, we entered the current period of the post Cold War, and it is even more complicated.

There are many man-made disasters. We have to use our wisdom, our technology, education, and civilization to handle all the challenges ahead. We are human beings, and as a biologist I believe we are intelligent enough to handle all the crises, especially the man-made crises.

Today, we are focused on natural disasters and natural crises.

It is nature, but it is not really natural, because all the consequences we are facing today due to climate change are built on the past, on unsustainable practices for agriculture, for industry, for cities, or urbanization in general.

As FAO, and together with the Ministries of Agriculture, we should play a fundamental role in handling these natural disasters, alongside all relevant partners, ministries, the private sector, and civil society.

Some years ago, we launched the food security dialogue in Uzbekistan, and last year I visited Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Now, you know that “stan” has a special meaning.

No matter whether Kazakhstan or one of the other “stan”. No matter east or west. It is our home. It is our land. I always call it green, not only the colour, but green nature. Therefore, we need to develop a green economy first, green energy, and a green way of life.

Otherwise, we cannot have One Health.

Today, I am very happy that the Minister of Health is also here. I joked with him and said that it means that today we will have health! 

I hope he can join us every year to work with the Minister of Agriculture, and join efforts to make a healthier world, healthier societies, healthier families, and healthier individuals.

How? Through food security.

Food security is not just about having basic food or carbohydrates. We have enough bread, enough rice, no matter if it is bare rice or cooked rice or sushi or Chinese fried rice or you add it to your soup together with mutton or beef. We need the basic carbohydrates, then nutritious food, and then healthy food.

And more importantly functional food because some food elements do not contribute to nutrition, but to special functions of your body.

For example, edible fibre is not very nutritious, but it helps cleanse the body.

When we talk about health, we need four levels of food security: from basic, to nutrition, to health, and to functional. Together with the three dimensions of food security: food availability, food accessibility and food affordability.

These four levels, combined with the three dimensions, make 12 combinations. Using these 12 combinations, you can measure yourself as an individual, you can measure your family, you can measure your community, and you can measure your nation to see how far you have reached.

I joked with Bill Gates, he is a billionaire and has no problems with affordability, accessibility and availability. Yet, even he has problems to access healthy or functional food because he only has access to carbohydrates and nutritional food.

Maybe it is not a secret that Mr Trump only eats MAC hamburgers and drinks coke. It does not mean he lacks accessibility, availability or affordability, but he has no accessibility to high-level of healthy foods or functional foods.

Individuals are like this, but so are countries, communities, and even organizations like FAO in our Cafeteria. We have mentioned the 12 combinations, and yet we still have much room to improve.

Food security is not just about production, it is not simply about availability, especially in southern countries where we only talk about food availability at the basic level and/or at the nutritional level.

In FAO, right before I came to office, they were only talking about two levels: basic and nutrition level. They did not talk about health. I encouraged my Chief Economist to talk about healthy food, but even that is not enough.

We should also talk about functional foods, the highest level. For so many years, people have practiced this in China and across East Asia, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and in some parts of Africa, with long traditions of similar food culture.

That is one point.

Then we need to move to the why and the how, and we need a proper initiative and approach. Food and agrifood systems are a part of the solution.

Any exception creates problems for sustainability and for climate change. The approach is very important, otherwise you may have good ideas and a good philosophy, but they do not reach the individual families and communities on the ground.

First, we need the Four Betters to guide us: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. This is the global strategy for Ministers of Agriculture and, hopefully for other Ministers as well.

Better production is not only about producing foods; it is also about the production of a better way of life, which is very important.

 Of course, we need innovation, investment, and enabling policies. That is the approach.

And we need partnerships, not only among different governments, but also among different partners and key players. Partnerships are also part of the solution. Otherwise, we only blame and complain about each other, but there is no real or coherent solution.

At FAO we want to play the role of a professional coordinator. I truly appreciate the presentations by colleagues here today. You are really playing a coordination role. I appreciate it. Not many people are willing to cooperate and coordinate.

Now, UN agencies, including FAO, should be a service provider. We have no power and no money. We should be humble servants at your service – providing a professional service. So, FAO is willing to offer professional services to its 194 Members.

I wish to thank Turkmenistan, His Excellency the President and also other relevant Ministers, for finalizing the host country agreement for establishing the FAO Country Representation. It was the last country in this region without a FAO Representation. This is truly a turning point to strengthening collaboration between FAO and Turkmenistan.

In Turkmenistan, traditional agriculture has its limits. But through innovation and modern technology, you can unleash the biggest potential of your land in this region.

Some products from the desert and from extreme weather conditions, cannot be produced in other environments that look green, beautiful, and are tropical or subtropical.

That is the big potential for functional food production.

Yesterday, I had a long discussion with the President, for one hour, much longer than I expected, and also with the Deputy Chair of the Cabinet of Ministers, which lasted two hours.

My expectation for Turkmenistan is that even though they may have arrived a little late, there is the potential to scale up and speed up!

I am very confident of the fruitful outcomes that will arise from this dialogue, this International Conference, which is the third time it is being held.

Next September 2026 in Rome, at FAO headquarters, we will organize the One Health Ministerial Conference. And, you know that President Macron will Chair the One Health Summit on 7 April in Lyon, France.

President Macron has already accepted my invitation to come to speak at our One Health Ministerial Conference.

I hope that it will not only be the Ministers of Agriculture who will participate in the One Health Ministerial Conference - the first ever in FAO’s history, and in the UN’s history.

We try to attract more Ministers of Environment and Ministers of Health, to come to Rome to dialogue professionally. The One Health Summit offers political commitment, and we need the Ministers to implement actions based on national priorities, together with their sister Ministers and partners. This is a way to make the One Health approach deliverable and impactful.

With that, I wish you all the best. This is my first international trip of the year. I have had great respect for this nation and for your National Leader for many years. He was the President who promoted the horse, the most famous horse in the world, the Akhal-Teke horse. In Chinese we call it ‘the golden horse’ and 2026 is the Year of the Horse in the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

So, let us learn from the horse: run fast, run steadily and run forward.

I wish you all the best. Good health, happy homes with healthy and functional food to eat every day.

Thank you very much.