WORLD FOOD FORUM 2025 GRAND OPENING Statement

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends, all respected world leaders, ministers, friends, scientists, young friends, and those young-at-heart,

Welcome to the 5th edition of the annual World Food Forum!

Six years ago, I established the FAO Youth Committee on 9 September, when I first took office as FAO Director-General in 2019.Then, I established the FAO Women’s Committee, on 15 October, which is the International Day of Rural Women. These committees are two wheels driving transformation of the FAO culture, and FAO globally, staff morale has risen and is now at the highest it’s ever been!

Today, the empowerment of youth and women needs a platform to play. Previously, it was only ministers, ambassadors, Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General speaking here. Sometimes, leaders also came to speak here. However, now, as you can see also from the exhibition “From Seeds to Food” we inaugurated on Friday, we have attracted more than 10 000 visitors, and food from all over the world, as well as highly recognized technologies.

It is very impressive! The Saudi Rural Programme (REEF) post on X attracted more than one million followers - that is remarkable.

The World Food Forum was started during the COVID-19 pandemic to promote food security and agrifood systems transformation, before the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS).

Today, it has become a global movement.

From Rome to all Members! All the roads lead to Rome, however, we also need to go from Rome to the world. We need to go where the food is produced, on the ground and in the field.

From Rome to the world is more challenging than you coming to Rome. That is why we try to attract you to come to Rome first, and then you go back to every corner of the world – always with one collective goal.

From the online gathering in 2021, the World Food Forum has grown into a global flagship event attracting thousands of people and leaders from around the world.

All with one goal: transforming global agrifood systems, for a better foods-secure future for all.

We have shown how we can do Better Together!

The Forum has also grown geographically: from just one stage in Rome at the start to over 62 National Youth Chapters active today worldwide.

From a handful of sessions five years ago to more than 300 events during this week.

Before, it was only a one-hour celebration for World Food Day, but now it is a hole week celebration with 300 events.

Last year, we had more than 4 500 participants online and about 8 000-9 000 people in person. This year, Maximo Torero, the FAO Chief Economist, informed me yesterday that we have already registered 12 000 participants coming physically to FAO. More than 1000 are Indigenous Peoples!

This is what happens when vision becomes action!

This is what happens when youth are in the driver’s seat! Not only in the passenger seat, no they are in this driver’s seat. If you want them to become drivers, you have to put them in the driver’s seat!

This year, we also mark a historic milestone: FAO turns 80!

For eight decades, FAO, together with its Members and the global community, has moved forward in pursuit of our noble mandate of a world free from hunger and malnutrition, free from want.

Honourable President Lula, you have made it your long-life commitment to end hunger in Brazil and now, after two years of efforts, Brazil has disappeared from the hunger map! That is remarkable!

His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho has been the FAO Champion for Nutrition for many years – not only championing for Lesotho, but for Africa and the global.

Lesotho is not a big country like Brazil, but His Majesty is just as famous as my dear brother President Lula!

If you do good, with big passion, you will have great impact!

Another remarkable older brother is my dear friend Professor Yunus. Before receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, he was already working with smallholder farmers.

As a Nobel Laureate he established a strong friendship with FAO to support our mission.

Her Royal Highness Princess of Jordan has also done remarkable work on Green Recovery and Biodiversity Conservation in challenged countries in her region as FAO Goodwill Ambassador for the Near East Region.

These four distinguished guests herewith us today represent the best type of politician in the world. 

Political commitment is key. In China we say, if you have the biggest problem, you should reach out to the biggest boss because he can solve the biggest problem. A humble, small boss can only solve small problems.

That is why President Lula, just before joining us here in the Plenary Hall, was speaking at the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty event, and was pushing the Ministers and partners because he has taken Brazil’s G20 Presidency very seriously. Even after the end of the G20 Presidency, he continues to push.

The young people that are here today have to learn from good role models whose leadership can change your life, and change the lives of those who need your help.

Our collective belief is that food is not a privilege.

Food is life. Food is culture. Food is a basic human right.

Most of us suffered when we were kids because we did not have enough food. Professor Yunus in Bangladesh also had a challenging childhood. So, we know that food is a basic human right.

On 16 October, the world will celebrate World Food Day under the same theme as this Forum: “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future.”

I chose this theme because transformation is not built by one actor alone.

Transformation is a collective effort.

There is an Italian saying: every small piece completes the mosaic.

Italy is so famous for so much art because of its mosaics. Mosaics are a piece of fragment, segment or porcelain, but then you can turn these pieces into beautiful art.

Like the beautiful mosaics you see throughout our host city Rome, transformation takes many pieces, many colours, many hands and a lot of creativity and imagination. If you look at the ceiling here. It needed renovation and now it is a masterpiece of art in this room. 

Once put together masterfully you can see the full vision, you can bring it to life.

This year, World Food Day will also unveil something new: the Food and Agriculture Museum and Network. Italy is a country with a long history and civilization. If we do not take action on the museum related to food and agriculture, then I would not be qualified to be Director-General. I feel we are privileged to have received such strong support from our host country, especially from His Excellency President Mattarella. In only one year, we have built the FAO museum, which we will unveil on World Food Day. I appreciated all the work that has been done for this historical museum.

More than a museum. More than a network. It will be a living cultural space for food and agriculture.

It will showcase the traditions and innovations that shape our agrifood systems.

It will bring together heritage and technology, past and future, art and science.

And, just like a mosaic, it will join many fragments into a story that is larger than any single one of us. That is what I learned from mosaics. A lot of people like mosaics as a masterpiece of art. I learned about its collective effort, from fragments to collective power, beauty and wealth.  

Dear Friends,

Culture runs through this Forum like a thread of light.

You saw it in the Seeds to Foods Exhibition.

You will hear it in concerts that unite voices from every continent.

You will feel it in the Indigenous Peoples’ Territories, where ancestral knowledge becomes today’s solutions.

Culture teaches us that diversity is strength.

It is our resilience.

And when we bring our different pieces together, we build something enduring.

But we must not forget that around 673 million people - 8.2 percent of the world's population - still face hunger. 

Historically, there has been a significant improvement since FAO was first established.

In 1945, the world population was about 2.3 billion, and two-thirds of the population - around 1.5 billion people - were hungry or undernourished.

Today, 2.3 billion people face food insecurity, and 2.6 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.

We still have a lot of things to do together.

Meanwhile, our agrifood systems strain under the weight of climate shocks, conflict, and biodiversity loss.

The urgency is real.

That is why FAO’s vision of the Four Betters must guide us to achieve:

Better Production that is sustainable and just. Produce more with less.

Better Nutrition that is accessible to everyone, everywhere.

A Better Environment that restores harmony to the planet. and

A Better Life that brings dignity and opportunity to all, leaving no one behind.

Each “Better” contributes to us being Better Together!

Each “Better” forms a vision of a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous world.

The World Food Forum is where this vision comes alive, and is built on three strong pillars:

• Youth Action
• Science and Innovation
• Hand-in-Hand Investment

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year the Forum welcomes once again the Rome Water Dialogue. A dialogue that is more critical than ever in a year marked by droughts, floods and rising water insecurity.

The Forum also hosts the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Ministerial Dialogue - building bridges of solidarity and knowledge exchange across the globe.

As well as many other events geared towards fostering partnerships and action for a better foods-secure future.

Together, these events expand the Forum’s reach.

They remind us that agrifood systems are not one story but many – they are global, interlinked, and deeply human.

This Forum is a moment to build our shared future, with youth at its centre.

In just five years, more than 500 youth-lead innovation projects have been supported, turning bold ideas into real solutions.

Nearly 30 000 young leaders have engaged in activities this year alone.

Over 16 000 youth from more than 180 countries have shared their perspectives through global consultations, that have shaped policies.

Almost 10 000 young people have taken part in training and mentorship, building the skills to tackle today’s biggest challenges.

More than 2 500 educators worldwide are now connected in a network that is inspiring the next generation.

On the ground, 126 Youth Focal Points in FAO offices, 62 National Youth Chapters, and 330 young Chapter leaders are already mobilizing action locally, nationally, and globally.

Dear Friends,

As we open this fifth edition of the World Food Forum, let us remember that every action we take — no matter how small — adds a new piece to the global mosaic of change we are creating together.

For 80 years, FAO has worked side by side with nations, farmers, youth, women, Indigenous Peoples, scientists and entrepreneurs — all united by one belief: that food can be the foundation of peace, dignity, and shared prosperity.

The transformation we seek will not happen by chance.

It will happen because we choose to act together — to be Better Together!

And may our beautiful host city remind us that what we build together today can — and must — endure for generations to come.

That is why Rome is called the ‘eternal city’. If we do good things, we will enter the history records. Let’s do it!

Thank you.