Mr Chairperson,
Mr President,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr Chairperson,
Mr Prime Minister
Mr President,
Mr Under-Secretary of State
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.  Lennart, thank you for inviting FAO to be with you this morning.  It is always a pleasure for the Director-General or me to address the IFAD Governing Council.

It is a pleasure first because it affords us an opportunity to call attention to the need to raise the level of investment in the agriculture sector if poverty and hunger are to be overcome.  And there is a long way to go on this.  We all know the statistics far too well, that we live in a world of abundant resources where there is enough food for everyone, yet more than a billion people live in extreme poverty and over 850 million suffer from hunger or under-nourishment.  But let us also remind ourselves that the vast majority of the poor and hungry live in rural areas where agriculture and related activities represent the main means of survival.

Hunger and poverty will never be eliminated unless investments, greater investments, are made to generate economic growth, particularly in rural areas.  This, in turn, cannot be accomplished without an increase in production and productivity, and without the support of appropriate rural financial, marketing and other essential services that are backed by rural infrastructure and policy measures.  People empowerment and strong farmers' organizations play an equally important role in this process.  These issues, I am sure, will be at the core of the interactive panel discussions today on “Innovative Challenges: What's New for the Rural Poor”.  It is important to consider what is new, but in doing so I hope that you don't lose sight of the need for something that has been with us a long time but is still in short supply.  Money.  Finance.  Investment.  Overcoming poverty and hunger will require investments in agriculture beyond today's level.  Investments by developing countries themselves, and investments by the donor community.

A second reason why I am pleased to be here is that it gives me an opportunity to assure you, and re-assure you, that collaboration between the Rome-based agencies (IFAD, WFP and FAO) is both extensive and effective.  Collaboration and partnership among international organizations is not only demanded by governments, especially in this current climate of UN Reform, but it also simply makes good business sense.  No organization working alone can make much of a dent in the problems of poverty and hunger.  By working in partnership, though, we can make more effective and efficient use of our very scarce resources.

Let me give you some examples of some joint IFAD/FAO activities.

Cooperation between IFAD and the FAO Investment Centre continues to progress, with FAO providing IFAD with a wide range of technical support services to promote investment in agriculture and rural development in member countries.  Over the last biennium, 13 projects prepared by the Centre were approved for funding by IFAD for investments totalling nearly US$500 million.

FAO's technical divisions beyond the Investment Centre are also collaborating with IFAD in a number of activities in the field.  Examples include: 1) Farmer Field Schools in Eastern and Southern Africa; 2) participatory approaches to community-driven development in Ghana, and 3) at global level, support to the UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security.  IFAD and FAO are also working together on the organic production of medicinal, aromatic and dye plants for poverty alleviation in marginalized communities in South Asia.

Let me also mention the excellent cooperation during the emergency operations of the desert locust control campaign in Western and Northern Africa, as well as the development of longer-term solutions for controlling locusts in a more environmentally-friendly way that will also contribute to safeguarding human health and the environment.  In view of the successful cooperation between IFAD and FAO on the locust campaign, we are now exploring possibilities of collaborating with the Fund in avian influenza control and eradication operations.

The implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) offers to IFAD and FAO, through regular consultations with their NEPAD focal points, excellent opportunities for collaboration.  FAO has provided support to NEPAD member countries for the formulation of National Medium-Term Investment Programmes and Bankable Investment Project Profiles. These have been completed in 51 countries and are ready for use in their dialogue with bilateral and multilateral development partners, including IFAD.

I would also like to mention that IFAD and FAO are working together on the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, the recently launched TerrAfrica Platform, and in preparing the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which will take place in Brazil next month.  Finally, we are particularly grateful for the valuable role IFAD plays in the International Alliance Against Hunger as a key member of the Working Group and by contributing actively to the development of National Alliances throughout the world.  As of today, 46 National Alliances have been established and are at different stages of development.

Mr Chairperson,

I could go on and on, but in the interest of time I should stop with these few examples.  Let me close by reiterating that the commitment of FAO and IFAD, and also of WFP to link our comparative advantages into an effective partnership against hunger and poverty is genuine and strong.  And we are continually in search of ways to make it even better.

I wish you a successful meeting.

Thank you, Mr Chairperson.