Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic, addresses IFAD’s 33rd Governing Council

Rome, 17 February 2010 – The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, spoke this morning at the opening ceremony of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which met for the first time at the Fund’s headquarters in Rome.

Thanking President Napolitano for his participation in the 33rd session of the Governing Council, the President of IFAD Kanayo F. Nwange acknowledged Italy’s commitment to maintaining agriculture at the core of the international agenda during its 2009 Presidency of the G8, which culminated in the historic Summit in L’Aquila.

Nwanze also thanked President Napolitano for Italy’s support during the eighth replenishment of IFAD’s resources, to which Italy is the second largest contributing country.

Addressing the representatives of the 165 Member States of IFAD, President Napolitano recalled that “at the G8 Summit the participants have, at the highest level, expressed deep concern about the growing levels of malnutrition and the food crisis, especially in Africa, and have decided to act jointly, on the basis of shared principles and joint efforts, to achieve a sustainable level of food security.”

In his remarks, President Napolitano said IFAD has been an active and coherent actor in implementing the efforts of the international community to support small farmers, especially women. He highlighted the challenges facing smallholders who are too often damaged by the rules that regulate the access of their products to international markets, by the unequal distribution of resources, by difficult access to advanced production techniques, by poverty and by adverse climate conditions.

President Napolitano reiterated that an effective strategy at the global level requires a joint effort to improve efficiency and maximize results. In this regard, he called for greater coordination of the interventions of the agencies of the United Nations agricultural hub in Rome, with respect to their complementary mandates.

President Napolitano concluded his remarks by emphasizing that “the challenges posed by the markets’ globalization and the difficulties in overcoming the global economic crisis require development of a governance model based on shared values of solidarity, incisiveness, environmental sustainability of development policies and an increasing attention to the less-advanced countries.”

Press release No.: IFAD/11/2010

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 350 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).