Europe and Central Asia commits to ensuring food-secure, sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Countries of Europe and Central Asia are united in protecting food production, supplies and trade, even against the background of a critical international situation. For days at the Thirty-third Session of the Regional Conference for Europe in Łódź, Poland, 50-plus FAO Members discussed possible paths and approaches for realizing this goal and for improving nutrition and food security in the region and around the globe.

Key topics discussed included the social and economic consequences of the pandemic and situation in Ukraine and its impact on global food security (with the Regional Conference adopting decisions on this matter and reaffirming the FAO Council’s earlier action); rising prices of staple food, vegetable oil, and fertilizers and other agricultural inputs; agrifood trade; climate change and its impacts; green agriculture; and malnutrition and unhealthy diets.

Earlier the Chairperson of the 32nd session of the Regional Conference for Europe was the Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev, who held this post for last 2 years. The Minister presented a report reflecting all elements of the work that has been implemented in Uzbekistan since 2020 to ensure food security and sustainability of agri-food systems.

The participants of the 33rd FAO Regional Conference for Europe highly appreciated the substantial work implemented during the chairmanship of the Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev. As Nabil Gangi, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia noted, the minister Khodjaev set high expectations for the Chairpersons of subsequent sessions of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe.

“I would like to thank the Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev for the excellent presentation he made at the conference. At the same time, the newly elected Chairperson of the 33rd session of the ERC, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Zbigniew Rau, after hearing the speech of Minister Khodjaev, also stressed that great and significant results had been achieved during this time, noting that from now on he will have to try hard to meet set pace”, - Nabil Gangi said.

The Regional Conference saw a record number of countries and officials participating, as 26 ministers and high-level officials responsible for agriculture and related areas joined in person, and representatives of the European Union, international organizations and the civil society – more than 350 people in total– gathered in Łódź and online for the conference, FAO’s highest-level governing body for Europe and Central Asia.

Regional conferences are essential for ensuring the effectiveness of FAO’s regional work in the service of Members and in defining the Organization’s priority areas of work for the following biennium. The conference report will be presented at the upcoming FAO Council session in June.