JEAN-JACQUES GRAISSE DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SIGNATURE CEREMONY OF THE PROTOCOL OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "JEAN-JACQUES GRAISSE DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SIGNATURE CEREMONY OF THE PROTOCOL OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT"

Transcription

1 1 Statement JEAN-JACQUES GRAISSE DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SIGNATURE CEREMONY OF THE PROTOCOL OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT AND FAO, IFAD AND WFP JANUARY 29, 2002 VILLA MADAMA ROME

2 2 Excellency, President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs ad interim Mr. Director-General of FAO, Mr. President of IFAD, Professor Mugnozza, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentleman, It is a great honour to represent the World Food Programme at this signing ceremony. In signing this Protocol of Agreement, WFP reaffirms its commitment to two significant ideas that guide the Programme in carrying out its mandate to aid the hungry poor around the world. First, this Agreement underscores the importance of joint efforts for reducing hunger and food insecurity through providing food aid to enable development and address emergencies. Secondly, this Agreement strengthens the World Food Programme s commitment to achieving its objectives through partnership - with the Government of Italy, our fellow Rome-based agencies, and Italian civil society organisations concerned with food and agricultural issues. These partnerships are very valuable to us in the World Food Programme and we hope the Agreement we sign today will be a platform for further strengthening them. Let me first express our appreciation for our partnership with the Government of the Republic of Italy. Its total contribution to WFP in 2001 of approximately 36 million US dollars, primarily from the Directorate General for Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented a significant increase in funding to the Programme compared to WFP hopes this signals a trend of increased Italian support for WFP in the coming years. We particularly hope that we can also strengthen our cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture so as to increase the volume of Italy s commodity food aid contributed to the World Food Programme.

3 3 The significance of the Italian contribution goes beyond its size. Italy s 1.8 million dollar contribution to WFP HIV/AIDS programmes in four African countries was the first donor contribution specifically to support WFP s efforts to address the food and nutrition needs of persons suffering from this tragic disease. Italy has also played a pioneering role in the use of debt swap arrangements to strengthen national efforts at poverty and hunger alleviation. One of the first fruits of the Rome Millennium initiative, a joint effort between FAO, IFAD, WFP, the City of Rome and the Italian government, is a coordinated programme to support the West Noubaria Rural Development Project in Egypt. Italy s partnership with the Rome-based agencies is more, however, than just its financial contribution. The Rome agencies share a common interest in ensuring that the goals of reducing hunger and rural poverty get the attention they deserve on the international development agenda. Italy s important role in the European Union and the G-8 make it ideally placed to serve as a strong voice for the needs of the hungry poor in international meetings and conferences. Close cooperation between the Rome-based agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy in preparing for participation in global summits will help ensure that the issues of food security and rural development are well represented in the outcomes of such important international gatherings. This year, the G-8 summit in Canada will have a special focus on development in Africa. The World Food Programme is the largest provider of grant aid to Africa in the UN system, with operational expenditures of over 880 million dollars in Africa in We look forward to working with the Government of Italy in ensuring the G-8 conclusions on helping Africa give due weight to the important contributions WFP is making and can expand further with additional international community support. The G-8 can provide a renewed impetus to the global school feeding initiative by pledging additional political and financial support for this effort and emphasizing the contributions school feeding can make to educational and nutritional improvements in Africa.

4 4 The signing of this Agreement also marks another step forward in the partnership between the three Rome-based agencies. While recognizing our different, but complementary mandates, the three Rome agencies are deeply committed to working together in support of a common message of reducing hunger and rural poverty through food aid, rural development, and strengthening the agricultural sector of the low-income, food-deficit countries. Indeed, I believe we will see in 2002 an unprecedented level of cooperation among the three Rome agencies in working together to advocate our common message in international meetings and conferences. I recently delivered joint remarks on behalf of FAO, IFAD and WFP at the final Preparatory Committee of the Conference for Financing for Development and the three agencies will continue to act together at the conference itself next March in Monterrey, Mexico. The World Food Summit: Five Years Later here in Italy in June will be another occasion for the three agencies to demonstrate their joint collaboration in support of reducing hunger. We also intend to work together at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August-September of this year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to our three agencies as the Roman pole of the United Nations system. I can assure you that the Roman pole will stand tall in the international arena in Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the signing of this Agreement signals a strengthening of the WFP partnership with Italian civil society, including public and private research bodies, industrial and commercial corporations and unions, and nongovernmental organisations operating in the food and agricultural sector. UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan has stressed the importance of enhancing UN cooperation with civil society institutions, including the private sector and NGOs. Italy has a vibrant and diverse range of civil society organisations deeply interested in food and agricultural issues. WFP has worked with a number of these organisations in the past on specific projects and activities. This Protocol of Agreement, however, provides a basis for a more systematic structure for working with these Italian organisations, in cooperation with our

5 5 partners in FAO and IFAD. We very much welcome this opportunity to strengthen our cooperation with Italian civil society. In conclusion, let me state that everyone in WFP has a special affection, both personal and professional, for Italy as our host nation. It is truly fitting that we pledge today our joint support to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition. We thus celebrate our mutual respect and affection by committing ourselves to help those who most need our help - the hungry poor around the world.