17 February 2010: international leaders gather in Rome for IFAD’s annual meeting

Mark your calendar

The 33rd session of the Governing Council, IFAD’s annual meeting, will feature a panel - “From summit resolutions to farmers’ fields: climate change, food security and smallholder agriculture” - with internationally known experts who will analyse how to transform promises into realities for the 2 billion people whose lives depend on smallholder agriculture:

• Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development at the Centre for Environmental Policy Imperial College, London
• Dr Nahed Taher,CEO of Gulf One Investment Bank
• Ajay Vashee, President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers
• Haydee Castillo, Coordinator Womens’ Forum for Central American Integration
• Kevin Cleaver, Associate Vice-President of IFAD

A press conference will be held with the panellists at 12:30  to introduce the topics for discussion at the plenary panel in the afternoon.

17 February 2010
Press Conference -12.30
Plenary Panel -15:00
IFAD, Via Paolo di Dono 44 -  E.U.R./Laurentina, Rome

 Journalists are requested to accredit by 12 February 2010. Please fill in the attached form and send to ifadnewsroom@ifad.org

Television crews, in particular, are advised to arrive early in order to ensure smooth security clearance of their equipment prior to entering the IFAD premises.   

 IFAD/PR/05/2010

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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).