Mdm. Chairperson,
Mr. President,
Fellow Governors,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me begin by saying what a great pleasure it is to stand before you today, at the 34th Session of IFAD’s Governing Council representing the State of Israel.

Food prices today are the highest level in recent years, higher than in 2008. Therefore a joint action is required. Israel will be happy to join others in these urgent efforts.

Young women and men who live in rural areas are the world's future farmers, entrepreneurs and leaders.

The challenges of meeting future food demand, developing vibrant rural centre's and promoting broad based economic growth in developing countries depends on them.

These are compelling reasons to place rural young people and smallholder farmers at the forefront of global strategies for food security, poverty reduction and income growth.

This Year's annual board meetings title" Feeding future generations: young rural people today – prosperous, productive farmers tomorrow" is a very relevant topic that touches key issues of concern.

Young people from the rural areas are moving to the cities and joining thousands and millions of other youngsters who are looking for employment and opportunities to make a living and improve their standard of life. The International communities' obligation is to make sure they have those opportunities at home.

As one of the leading agencies in the world, IFAD is dedicated to eradicating hunger and rural poverty in developing countries. I commend IFAD’s critical role in realizing these objectives within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals.

For the past 5 3 years MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, has been sharing its know-how and experience with developing countries around the world in order to make a difference. Issues of food security, climate change, environment, desertification, water management, rural development, empowerment of women and human capacity building are high on our agenda.

As part of MASHAV's long tradition of Horizontal Partnership, we are committed to strengthening cooperation with IFAD.

MASHAV is continuously adjusting and creating new programs and forging partnerships to face new challenges.  Following this vision, MASHAV has recently signed agreements with the WFP, FAO and many other international development agencies and partner countries. We aim to share our respective strengths and resources to support initiatives that advance our common goal of eradicating hunger and improving the lives of the world’s poor.

These agreements promote professional capacity building in the field of agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas.

In addition they provide more opportunities for further collaboration to address development challenges and improve the livelihood of rural communities; and to boost local and regional economies.

Israel has always invested in agriculture and is working with partners on implementing various irrigation technologies, as well as strategies and models to adapt to climate change, mainly in Africa.

The beneficiaries are primarily smallholder farmers that are the main producers of food in many developing countries. In addition we are partnering and supporting the local policies of adaptation.

The General Assembly of the UN has adopted for the second time the Israeli initiated resolution on “Agricultural Technology for Development”. The resolution, introduced by Israel, with the support of like-minded Member States, supports the use of know-how and technology and the promotion of research and development to increase agricultural productivity and food security in poor rural areas focusing on the smallholder farmer and on women.

Since IFAD is seeking effective collaboration with other development agencies, civil society organizations and host governments, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to take part in the deliberations and discussions, as well as meeting with IFAD’s President and Vice President to discuss the possibility of expanding cooperation and contribution between our two agencies, both at the field and headquarters levels.

There is no single approach to overcoming the immense development challenges before us. We take pride that Israel, being a small nation has contributed throughout the decades, and will continue to contribute, towards the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.

We remind ourselves that achievements along the development path – be them small or large – help us touch and inspire the lives of millions of people around the globe.

Let me reiterate Israel’s commitment and support to IFAD and its agenda.

Thank you very much and Shalom.

19 February 2011