I am delighted to be here on this important occasion marking the Thirtieth Anniversary of IFAD’s founding. This is a time to highlight the significance of the Rome-based agricultural agencies, and to underscore their potential in the context of the determined efforts being made by the international community to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Italy’s political decision to build a centre to combat hunger and poverty through agricultural development dates back to the 1950s. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters moved to Rome in 1951. Our country’s support for multilateral agricultural development policy was further consolidated with the creation of the World Food Programme (WFP) in 1962 and the International Fund for Agricultural Development in 1977.

The decision to set up the Fund was one of the major outcomes of the World Food Conference in the 1970s.

Within the context of combating hunger and food insecurity, it focused on structural adjustments in developing countries, where most of the world’s poorest people were living in rural areas. The new international fund was given a special mandate to provide highly concessional financing and grants for agricultural development projects in developing countries.

Since then, Italy has reaffirmed its support for IFAD’s activities and objectives as one of the top donors in each replenishment of funds. In fact, for the most recent replenishment exercise, covering the period 2007-2009, Italy pledged an additional US$51 million to the Fund, the second highest pledge among all the donor countries.

In addition, Italy has made voluntary contributions of US$40 million through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to finance and cofinance many specific programmes and projects.
Let me share with you some thoughts on the work of this Governing Council:

• First of all, on the occasion of IFAD’s Eighth Replenishment, several countries indicated their interest in repositioning themselves within the Fund by substantially increasing their contributions;
• This session of the Governing Council and IFAD’s Thirtieth Anniversary are taking place at a time of intense international debate. The World Bank’s recent World Development Report stressed the importance of agriculture in development policy, maintaining that investments in agriculture will need to increase if the Millennium Development Goals are to be met by 2015.

International commitments leading up to the International Conference on Financing for Development to be held in Doha are being steered in that direction as well.

The three round tables that are to take place here, with the participation of authoritative international experts, will be looking at highly topical issues that are of great significance to the agricultural sector and pose challenges to the international community. Among them are the effects of climate change, rising food prices and future prospects for bio-fuel production. It is my hope that these discussions will enrich the process of reflection and establishing operating guidelines so that the Fund’s strategy may be defined in full alignment with emerging priorities and the approaches being adopted at other international institutions.

The selection of these pressing issues bears witness to IFAD’s deservedly key position among the multilateral agencies tasked with meeting the world’s greatest challenges. Moreover, the primacy of the Fund’s areas of work is illustrated by the fact that first among the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 was to reduce world poverty and hunger. The Fund's activities are also clearly linked to the remaining goals – such as those relating to gender equality, infant mortality and environmental sustainability – all of which are interrelated in the ways that characterize today’s globalized society.

By the way, to indicate yet again the importance of these issues, I cannot help but observe that the theme chosen by Milan as a candidature to host the 2015 World’s Fair is “Nourishing the Planet: Energy for Life”. A meaningful but by no means accidental coincidence since this is a specific priority of my Government: to strengthen Italy’s commitment to development aid and to act in keeping with its sense of responsibility as a developed country and its humanitarian external policy outlook.

I hardly need remind you that this priority is not limited to abstract statements of principle but has translated into actual expenditures.

We have seen a significant increase in appropriations for development cooperation (all the more so considering the context of fiscal restraint), as well as a 410 million euro payment of long-overdue contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Among IFAD’s member countries, Italy was the first to make its contribution for 2008 available, in the amount of 130 million euros.

• A final point that I should like to make is that IFAD today finds itself in the midst of a reform initiative that touches on the entire organization, and, in particular, on the activities and modus operandi of the other two Rome-based agencies.
• At FAO, a debate is under way on the reform proposals outlined in the recent independent external evaluation. I am sure you will all join me in expressing the warmest encouragement to those working on the reform to identify the most appropriate instruments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals – most importantly the first goal, to reduce and possibly halve hunger and poverty by 2015.
• WFP is also restructuring in an effort to overcome its own operational and financial challenges. The inexorable rise in food and transportation costs, especially over the past six months, together with the current trend in international exchange rates, mean that innovative choices are needed to lead to a new strategic vision and create greater consistency and synergy with other international organizations operating in the development field.
• Against this challenging backdrop, IFAD has played a pioneering role in adapting to changing international circumstances. Its vigorous process of internal reorganization, following on the independent evaluation of three years ago, has been unanimously hailed as a model of reform, both for the United Nations and for international financial institutions.

It is our hope, therefore, that the difficult path undertaken by IFAD may serve as an example for the other agencies, and that this unique opportunity may be fully embraced to implement all the reforms needed to lend the highest efficiency and effectiveness to the Rome-based agencies.