DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S ACTIVITIES IN SEPTEMBER 2008
Rome, Italy, 1 September:
The Director-General had bilateral meetings with the Ambassadors of Indonesia and Sudan.
Zambia, Lusaka, 2 to 4 September:
The Director-General arrived in Lusaka on 2 September at 12:50 hours to attend the burial ceremony of His Excellency Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, late President of the Republic of Zambia and to extend condolences to the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
Upon his arrival on 2 September, the Director-General gave a short media interview. On the same day, he visited the State House and paid his condolences to the First Lady, together with other visiting Heads of State, State representatives, former Heads of State and foreign dignitaries. On this occasion, he interacted briefly with His Excellency Marc Ravalomanana, President of the Republic of Madagascar; His Excellency Ian S.K. Khama, President of the Republic of Botswana; His Excellency General Major Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya; His Excellency Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi; His Excellency Armando Emílio Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique; His Excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia; His Excellency Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa; His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and The Right Honourable Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho.
The Director-General then had an opportunity to briefly meet with the staff of the FAO Representation. On 3 September, he met the Acting President, His Excellency Rupiah Banda to discuss issues of mutual concern and extend condolences. The Director-General also had an opportunity to meet the First Lady, Maureen Mwanawasa.
The Director-General left Lusaka on 4 September at 07:20 hours.
South Africa, Pretoria, 4 to 5 September:
The Director-General arrived in Johannesburg on 4 September at 09:30 hours and continued immediately to Pretoria.
He first met with Mrs Susan van der Merwe, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs to discuss global trends in food and agriculture. They reviewed bilateral cooperation and the prospects of a joint effort to accelerate agricultural growth and improve food security in Africa, mostly in South African Development Community (SADC) countries. The Director-General welcomed the county’s leading role in promoting South-South Cooperation following the model implemented between Viet Nam and Guinea with a view to replicating it in the region. He also welcomed the country’s role in supporting FAO’s Capacity Building Project and reiterated FAO’s interest in supporting the Government in establishing the National Food Control Agency in response to the challenges posed by soaring food prices. The Director-General highlighted South Africa’s important role in the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and informed about FAO’s support to 51 African countries in identifying the National Medium-Term Investment Programme (NMTIP) and Bankable Investment Project Profiles (BIPs). However, he noted the slow pace of implementation due to lack of resources. The Minister suggested linking the CAADP programme more to Sub-regional programmes and reiterated the country’s interest, as SADC chair, in prioritizing agriculture in SADC countries in order to increase production.
Later, he met the United Nations (UN) Country team to discuss overall UN cooperation, including FAO’s contribution to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the United Nations Common Country Programme for South Africa (CCPAP) 2007-2010.
He then met with His Excellency Lulama Xingwana, Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs with whom he addressed the same topics discussed with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In addition, an agreement was reached to share experiences on the establishment of Food Parks, including agro-mini estates, storage and small-scale water systems and the Agropole programmes. The Director-General indicated that FAO would prepare a concept note for the Minister’s consideration.
He concluded his visit by addressing media representatives at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria on questions regarding the global perspective of rising food prices. Questions were mainly related to the causes, impact and consequences of the food crisis.
The Director-General left Johannesburg on 5 September at 10:05 hours.
Swaziland, Mbabane, 5 to 7 September:
The Director-General arrived in Mbabane on 5 September at 11:10 hours.
At midday, he had a phone interview with CNBS, London. After lunch he met with The Honourable Mtiti Fakudze, Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives and other officers of the Ministry. Discussions focused on bilateral cooperation, the current food crisis and the coordinated response of the international community, as well as on FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices.
The Director-General participated in the official celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Independence of the Kingdom of Swaziland and in the celebrations of 40th birthday of His Majesty King Mswati III. In his meeting with His Majesty King Mswati III, he shared views on global trends and challenges in food security and agriculture at the global, regional and local levels and briefed on activities undertaken in the framework of FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices and related international developments following the High-Level Conference on World Food Security. On this occasion, he also met with a number of Cabinet Ministers, including The Honourable Themba Dlamini, Prime Minister, African Heads of State and Government and other dignitaries present at the ceremony.
The Director-General interacted briefly with His Majesty King Letsie III, King of Lesotho; His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini, King of Zulu; His Excellency Marc Ravalomanana, President of the Republic of Madagascar; His Excellency Ian S.K. Khama, President of the Republic of Botswana; His Excellency Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi; His Excellency Armando Emílio Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique; His Excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia; His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania; His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda; His Excellency Paul Kagamé, President of the Republic of Rwanda and His Excellency Rupiah Banda, Acting President of Zambia and other dignitaries.
On 7 September, he left for a field visit. On this occasion he had a brief meeting with Prince Masitsela, the local leader of the area. He addressed the press (local media, FAO media crew, Al Jazeera/South Africa) while visiting a school-based farming project in Boyane designed for children orphaned by AIDS and other vulnerable schoolchildren, funded mainly by the Government of Australia.
When back in Mbabane, he had a meeting with the UN agencies to discuss global trends and challenges in food security and agriculture and the possibilities of increasing interagency collaboration to improve agricultural productivity at the regional and local levels. While referring to his field visit, he mentioned that the Government should be encouraged to expand the programme to every school. The programme could also serve as a good example for effective interagency cooperation between UN agencies.
The Director-General concluded his visit with a press conference conducted at the Hotel Board Room in the presence of ASP (network for Francophone countries), Channel Swazi, Swazi TV, The Nation (a Swazi Magazine) and Associated Press Television. He also gave an interview to Swazi TV.
The Director-General left Mbabane on 7 September at 18:15 hours.
United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, 8 to 10 September:
The Director-General arrived in Abu Dhabi on 8 September at 7:50 hours. He had bilateral meetings with: His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Red Crescent and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency; His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; and His Excellency Sultan Al Mansouri, Minister for Economy.
Discussions focused on soaring food prices; the outcome of and follow-up to the High-level Conference on World Food Security held in Rome from 3-5 June 2008; the Sub-Regional Office for the GCC and possibilities for strengthening cooperation between the country and FAO; GCC’s agricultural investment in developing countries; and public/private partnerships.
The Minister for Economy suggested that the holding of a conference in the UAE be considered with the aim of bringing together the public and private sector for investing in agriculture and to design a strategy that would lead to a win-win situation for all parties concerned. The Conference could have technical preparatory meetings as well as private sector side events. The Director-General also met with His Excellency Rashid Bin Fahad, Minister for Environment and Water to discuss the strengthening of cooperation in the fields of environment and water as well as agriculture and fisheries. He also met with His Excellency Khalid Butti Al Shamsi, Deputy Director of the Court of His Highness the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and paid a courtesy visit to His Excellency Saeed Mohamed Al Raqabani, ex-Minister for Agriculture and Water. The Director-General left Abu Dhabi on 10 September at 02:50 hours.
Belgium, Brussels, 10 to 11 September:
The Director-General arrived in Brussels on 10 September at 07:55 hours to participate, at the invitation of the European Parliament, in a special session of the Development Committee on the “European Commission proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a facility for rapid response to soaring food prices in developing countries”. He also participated in the Session of the Agricultural and Sustainable Development Committee devoted to the “Intercultural Dialogue on Food Security”. Both sessions were held in the morning and afternoon of 10 September. On this occasion, he also met His Excellency Charles Michel, Belgium Minister for Development Cooperation and Her Excellency Sabine Laruelle, Belgian Minister for Agriculture. He also gave four individual interviews to the Press Service of the European Parliament and to the Spanish daily newspaper “Publico”, radio BBC and the Belgium daily newspaper “De Tijd”.
The Director-General left Brussels on 11 September at 13:35 hours.
Rome, Italy, 12-19 September:
The Director-General participated in the following internal meetings with Assistant Directors- General and Directors: • Senior Management Meeting (SMM); • PPAB.
He also attended the following meetings: • External Affairs Commission (Commission III and XIII), Italian House of Deputies; • Joint Meeting FAO/IFAD/WFP, IFAD; • High-Level External Committee on the MDGs; • CoC/IEE - Joint Meeting of Working Groups I, II and III; • Meeting with Members of the IPC-International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty; • HLTF Meeting on the Global Food Crises (Videoconference).
The Director-General had bilateral meetings with:
His Excellency Michel Barnier, Minister for Agriculture and Fishery, France; Her Excellency Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, African Union Commissioner; His Excellency Francisco Carrión, Representative of the President of Ecuador; Dr Prem Nath, Chairman Agricultural Science Foundation (PNASF); Prof. Rudy Rabbinge; Mr Omar Salem, Chairman, General Water Authority, Libya.
He also met with the Ambassadors/Permanent Representatives of: Burundi, Cameroon, China, Germany, Iran and USA and with the Permanent Representative of Japan who had terminated his mission in Rome. During this period, the following Ambassadors presented their credentials as new FAO Permanent Representatives:
His Excellency Gideon Meir, Israel; His Excellency Gheorghe Rusnac, Moldova; His Excellency Saade Madhlouf, Vanuatu.
The Director-General had press interviews with: M Barrat (FR5), Cadena Ser, Dr Yamada (Japan Agricultural News), Interview M. K. Pas (documentary about global food crisis), and “Messages du Secours Catholique”.
France, Grenoble, 19 to 20 September:
The Director-General arrived in Paris on 19 September at 21:50 hours. On the following day, he continued his journey to Grenoble, where he was invited by the Journal "Libération" to participate in the debate "Quelles réponses pour les crises alimentaires?" in the framework of the Second Forum of Grenoble on "Un nouveau monde! Mondialisation, environnement, Europe" held from 19 to 21 September 2008.
The Director-General, together with Ms Sylvie Brunel (Geographer, professor at Paris-IV Sorbonne, former President of “Action contre la faim”) responded to the questions raised by the audience. He highlighted FAO’s position as regards the current food security crisis and elaborated on the fundamental and structural nature of the problem: lack of investment in agriculture. He also informed the audience about FAO’s mandate.
He met with Mr Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister, and with Messrs Max Armanet and Vittorio de Filippis ("Libération").
The Director-General left Paris on 20 September at 21:05 hours.
United States of America, New York, 21 to 26 September:
The Director-General arrived in New York on 21 September at 17:20 hours to participate in the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and in a number of events organized during this period, in particular the High-level Meeting on Africa’s Development Needs (HLM), the High-level Event (HLE) on the Millennium Development Goals and the Private Sector Forum (PSF).
On 22 September, he participated in one of the Roundtable discussions organized within the framework of the High-Level Meeting on Africa's Development Needs devoted to the theme: “Africa’s development needs: state of implementation of various commitments, challenges and the way forward” 1. The high-level event was attended by many delegations and served as a decisive forum for world leaders to review all commitments made by Africans and their development partners. The meeting helped to upgrade priorities and streamline actions, with the ultimate goal of setting the right priorities for attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
1 http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/interactive/ahlmstatements.shtml . The high-level meeting comprised an opening plenary meeting, followed by two high-level round tables in the morning, two high-level round tables in the evening and a closing plenary meeting. The Director-General participated in the second round table in the morning, which was co-chaired by His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and Her Excellency Tarja Halonen, President of Finland.
In the afternoon of 22 September, he took part in the Side Event on “A response to the World Food Crisis: Smallholder Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development in Africa”2.
On 23 September 2008, the Director-General was invited to the Global Creative Leadership Summit organized by the Louise Blouin Foundation3. He took part in the morning session devoted to the theme “Global Agencies - Relevance, Reform and Re-application”. The keynote speaker of the event was His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana. Other participants included Mr Harold Burson, Founding Chairman, Burson- Marsteller; Mr David Boies, Chairman, Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP; Mr Warren Sach, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller, UN; Mr Morel Fourman, CEO, Gaiasoft: and Mr Juan Luis Cebrián, Editor in Chief, El Pais.
The Director-General was also invited to the Public-Private Partnership Forum on “Investing in Agriculture Partnerships to Combat Hunger” organized by USAID. He participated in the Roundtable on “African Food Security: Expanding Food Productivity and Trade”, organized jointly by USAID and the African Union (AU) Commission, and co-chaired by Ms Henrietta H. Fore, USAID Administrator, and Mr Jean Ping, President of the AU Commission. Other participants included the Presidents of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Vice President of the World Bank (Africa Region), the Deputy Executive Director of World Food Programme (WFP), the AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture and representatives at ministerial or ambassador level from Senegal, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania and Ethiopia, as well as representatives from bilateral donors (United Kingdom and the Netherlands).
He then participated in a meeting convened by His Excellency José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, along with the heads of FAO, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and WFP, to discuss the Global Food Crisis. Mr Barroso provided an update on the European Union financed EUR 1 billion programme (known as the “Facility for rapid response to soaring food prices in developing countries”), aimed at boosting poor farmers’ agricultural production. The meeting was followed by a media briefing to illustrate the common action and solidarity within the UN system.
Later in the evening, the Director-General participated in a dinner hosted by the Secretary- General in honour of Heads of States and Government.
On 24 September, he was invited to a working breakfast meeting on “The Food Prices Crisis: an opportunity for agriculture and world food security?” organized by His Excellency Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. His Excellency Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso co-chaired with the Commissioner. Mr David Nabarro, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Coordinator for the Task Force on the
2 http://www.un.org/ga/president/62/ThematicDebates/adn/worldfoodcrisis.pdf 3 http://www.creativeleadershipsummit.org/event_program/event_program.php Global Food Crisis was invited to present views on how to use the opportunity of the current crisis to achieve sustainable agriculture and food security.
The Director-General then met Mr Brian Hook, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs of the US Department of State. Discussions touched upon activities of the UN High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, the Special Session of the Conference in November 2008 and the Immediate Action Plan (IAP) and the work of the Crisis Management Centre and the expansion of its mandate.
In the afternoon, the Director-General participated in the UN Private Sector Forum “The Millennium Development Goals and Food Sustainability Roundtable on Agricultural Inputs and Infrastructure”4. During the Forum, the Director-General and Mr Lennart Båge, President of IFAD co-chaired the Roundtable on Agricultural Inputs and Infrastructure.
In the afternoon of 24 September, the Director-General participated in the UNDP-Spain side event on the MDG Achievement Fund: Lessons Learned and Way, jointly organized by Spain and UNDP.
On 25 September, the Director-General held meetings with His Excellency Blaise Compaoré, President of the Republic of Burkina Faso, His Excellency Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63 rd Session of the UN General Assembly, Ms Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF; and The Honourable Sam Kutesa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda.
In the evening, he attended the Secretary-General’s High-level Evening Meeting of the Food Crisis and Climate Change (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/index.shtml).
On 26 September, the Director-General met with Dr Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, Ms Thoroya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The Right Honourable Hubert Alexander Ingraham, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Bahamas.
In the afternoon he gave an interview to Mr Jean Karim Fall of RFI-Afrique. The Director- General left New York on 26 September 2008 at 18:55 hours.
Rome, Italy, 29-30 September:
The Director-General participated in the following internal meeting with Assistant Directors- General and Directors:
• Senior Management Meeting (SMM); • Weekly Policy Meeting on FAO Initiative on Soaring Food Prices.
He had a bilateral meeting with Her Excellency Mirza Q. Beg, former Ambassador of Pakistan.
Moreover, Mr Lubomir Micek, Counsellor, presented his credentials as the new FAO Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic.
4 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/media%20advisories/un%20private%20sector.pdf