Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
The Distinguished President of IFAD,
Madam the Executive Director of WFP,
Your Excellency Mr. Raymond Barre,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished Delegates,

It gives me great pleasure to be here today at this Twenty-first Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. It is an honour for me to join you in celebrating this twentieth anniversary of a sister agency and valued neighbour in the United Nations system, particularly of an agency whose aims have so much in common with those of FAO.

Born out of the 1974 World Food Conference, for which FAO was a major organizer, participant and contributor, IFAD was established to direct investment resources specifically to the rural poor. Then, as now, rural poverty went hand in hand with food insecurity - indeed, it is difficult to separate the two issues at national, regional or household level. IFAD’s objectives therefore remain of high relevance in the quest for agricultural development and greater social equity in the rural sector. These objectives are fully shared by FAO.

In tackling this important mandate, IFAD has been notably successful and I most warmly congratulate the President and staff of the Fund for their achievements during these past two decades. During this period the Fund has continued to strengthen its capacity to meet the challenges of food insecurity and poverty alleviation and, in particular, to build on the initiative which underlines its unique role among financing institutions - its primary focus on the rural poor.

While the world today continues to face the challenge of global food production and distribution, development assistance continues to decline in real terms, particularly so in the agricultural and rural sectors. Official external assistance in these sectors has fallen from some USD16 billion in 1988 to under USD10 billion in 1995, although there are now welcome signs of a change in that direction. Civil strife and food emergencies continue, the first often creating the tragically familiar conditions for the second. Food security can only be achieved where peace prevails, but it is equally true that there can be no peace for people affected by hunger.

Mr. Chairman, FAO has always considered it of highest importance to lend its strong support to IFAD. Our roles are entirely complementary. Within the field of food and agriculture, the accumulated storehouse of knowledge, expertise and experience of FAO has been made readily available to the Fund. This support has principally been achieved through the joint work with IFAD of FAO’s Investment Centre Division, with the full support of the major technical divisions of the Organization. During the last twenty years, 213 projects, or 44 % of IFAD-approved investments, have been prepared through this productive arrangement.

I am particularly pleased to note that fruitful cooperation between the two institutions has also expanded to cover other areas of activity where the synergy of our actions has been mobilized for the benefit of member countries. Indeed, many of these collaborative efforts have also involved other close colleague here in Rome - the World Food Programme. Post-emergency reconstruction, environment and sustainable development, gender issues, food insecurity and vulnerability, rural finance, decentralization and desertification are just some of the areas where working together has proven extremely valuable.

In this respect, Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to mention that IFAD and FAO are considering the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding detailing how they will collaborate in assisting member countries to implement the Convention to Combat Desertification, to enable populations of the countries affected by drought and desertification - particularly the poor and marginalized - to achieve household food security and sustainable livelihoods. FAO fully supports IFAD in its important role as host to the global mechanism of the Convention, and I look forward to our future collaboration on joint programmes and projects for sustainable agriculture, rural poverty alleviation, dryland development, combating desertification and improving food security.

Mr. Chairman, just over a year ago, FAO organized and hosted the World Food Summit. Representatives from 186 countries, 112 of which were represented by heads of state or government, committed themselves to a Declaration and a Plan of Action to lay the foundations for achieving the goal of ensuring that all people, at all times, have sufficient, safe and nutritious food to lead active and healthy lives. A target of reducing the undernourished people to half their present level of more than 800 million people by the year 2015 was set, and concrete actions to achieve this target were initiated. A major theme highlighted by the Summit was the need for adequate private and public investment to promote food security, including increased rural investment in the poorest food-deficit developing countries. In this respect, IFAD has a key role to play, which constitutes an essential part of the World Food Summit follow-up.

I am particularly pleased to inform you that the joint proposal of FAO and IFAD, in collaboration with WFP, to establish a Network on Rural Development and Food Security, under the auspices of the UN Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, has been put into place for implementing the Summit’s Plan of Action. This Network will focus on supporting co-ordinated country-level actions in the areas of rural development and food security. Some 20 organizations of the United Nations system, including FAO, IFAD and WFP, will be participating in the Network, in their particular technical areas of concern, in the follow-up to the World Food Summit.

FAO initiatives at country level in follow-up to the World Food Summit have been spearheaded by the Special Programme for Food Security which is testing, under the real conditions through participatory approaches, more effective and sustainable ways of farming through, for example, improved low-cost water control, crop intensification, diversification into small animal production, and artisanal fisheries. The initial phase, involving pre-investment pilot activities and assessments of socio-economic issues and constraints, is now in operation in 30 low income food deficit countries and under formulation in a further 40. The Programme’s goal is to create an enabling economic environment and the basis for much larger-scale investment schemes, which will contribute significantly to improving food security at regional, national and household levels.

Effective partnerships under the Special Programme have been developed with multilateral financing institutions as well as bi-lateral agencies. In addition, an increasing number of advanced developing countries have generously agreed to contribute to the Special Programme by providing field technicians and experts at grassroots level, under the framework of FAO’s South-South Cooperation scheme, to give practical on-the-ground assistance to participating farmers and government staff of low-income food-deficit countries undertaking Special Programme activities. I am pleased to note IFAD’s support to the Programme and its pilot projects in a number of member countries, and the Fund’s interest in seeking enhanced modalities for further collaboration and involvement in this important undertaking.

Mr. Chairman, the record shows that IFAD has played and continues to play an important part in the international community’s efforts to address critical issues of rural poverty and achieve improved food security in developing countries. The record also shows that there has been close and fruitful cooperation in this effort between FAO and IFAD. FAO’s skills and capacities have been, and must continue to be, effectively deployed in this collaborative effort with the Fund, especially now in the low income food deficit countries in connection with the Special Programme for Food Security and as follow-up to the World Food Summit’s Plan of Action.

The challenge posed by the continuation of severe rural poverty, and the need to achieve better food security in those countries most at risk, cannot be underestimated. Only through active partnership, and by working closely together, can organizations like FAO and IFAD produce the synergy and concrete results which all member countries expect.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your attention.