It is with great pleasure that I address the IFAD Governing Council on behalf of Jim Morris, our Executive Director, who regrets not being here in person. First of all, let me express my gratitude on behalf of WFP for all your good work and for being such a good partner.

As we all know, more than 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger. The vast majority - about 810 million women, men and children - live in rural areas, where they depend on agriculture and related activities for their survival.  

Together, we, the Rome-based agencies, agree that none of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved unless the world's poorest people are supported in their struggle to emerge from poverty and hunger.  The reduction of both hunger and poverty is essential to achieving the other MDGs. 

Hunger and poverty must be tackled together - as they are the cause and consequence of each other. Until the poor and vulnerable receive help with the problem of consumption, hunger will continue to block their prospects for investment and quest to ultimately develop. Food enables children to complete their schooling, brings down child mortality, improves maternal health and helps combat diseases.

To quote our joint statement to ECOSOC in June 2005:  “Tackling poverty will not automatically take care of hunger. In fact, research suggests that developing countries that focus exclusively on poverty - without special attention to hunger - will take a generation longer to make real progress on improving their people's nutrition and health.”

The ECOSOC and the 2005 World Summit were two significant events where the partnership between the Rome based agencies was highlighted.  Indeed, the Outcome document language on the importance of food security and rural agricultural development was a result of our close cooperation.

We remain convinced that, with concerted action and adequate resources, it is possible to achieve the MDGs. Our consistent efforts to enhance Rome-based partnerships and creating new opportunities to collaborate have already borne fruit: our joint work in rehabilitation and development contexts to recover livelihoods and create sustainable development possibilities, especially for the rural poor, speaks for itself. 

The twin-track approach has helped us to further unite against hunger and poverty by combining direct food assistance to the most vulnerable with long-term development measures. 

On the operational front, we have been strengthening our collaboration to ensure that the twin-track approach works. FAO and IFAD's technical expertise and financial assistance in agriculture supports rural development, while WFP's direct feeding gives people the strength they need to work, and school feeding lays the base for a healthy, well educated workforce.  

In 2005, WFP collaborated jointly with IFAD in eight WFP Country Offices (Burkina Faso, Chad, China, India, Laos, Pakistan, Syria and Tanzania) in nine different projects which combined direct food assistance provided by WFP to the same communities benefiting from IFAD micro-credit schemes.  This in turn will either improve infrastructure or allow them to acquire skills to start income-generating activities.

As a result of our long tradition of cooperation in Asia, WFP and IFAD signed a regional Memorandum of Understanding in 2003 to develop the integrated rural development approach utilizing WFP food aid and IFAD financial assistance and country-specific action plans in Asia.

In addition, we are hosting IFAD in our India country office.  In fact, in India, where the two agencies have been working together since 2001, IFAD co-funds an eight-year WFP food-for-work programme that focuses on marginal households, women, landless people, hill farmers and tribal groups.

In Laos we are both assisting food-insecure households in transition under the Rural Livelihoods Improvement Programme where WFP provides rice for asset creation through food-for-work. In Tanzania, WFP's collaboration with IFAD concentrates on constructing and rehabilitating 160 km of irrigation canals.

Let me conclude by saying that it is vital for Rome-based agencies to act jointly, to do things in a complementary way. Our experiences show us that our concerted efforts bring additional benefits to the rural people who need our help. We look forward to sharing this fruitful collaboration for many years to come, in our drive to give a better life to millions of needy people in this world.