Inauguration of IFAD Liaison Office in Japan

I am honoured to be here for this historic moment in the IFAD-Japan partnership.

As you know, Japan has supported the work of IFAD right from the beginning. For more than 40 years, we have worked together to fight poverty and promote rural development.

Today, we are starting a new phase of our relationship. The new Liaison Office will allow us to build on our shared vision of the world.

Both IFAD and Japan believe in creating sustainable food systems that promote healthy diets.

We believe in empowering rural people so they earn more income and strengthen their livelihoods.

And we believe in helping communities build resilience to climate change.

Such work is more important than ever. As we all know, the world is falling behind in the battle to end hunger.

Last year, more than 800 million people went to bed hungry — an 18 per cent increase since the outbreak of COVID-19.

And according to projections, more people will be pushed into food insecurity and extreme poverty by the end of 2022.

We must act quickly with emergency aid to save lives. But we must also look to the long term.

Investments in agriculture and food systems are the only way to build resilience to future crises, and create durable, sustainable food security.

The demand on IFAD’s resources and expertise is increasing. More than ever, we need support from partners like Japan to meet this growing demand.

That’s why this new office is so important.

It will help us ‎raise awareness of IFAD’s contribution to ‏food security and rural development.

It will help us share knowledge of Japan’s expertise and technologies.

And it will help us reach out directly to government and many other stakeholders — from parliamentarians, the private sector and foundations to JICA, JETRO, academics and civil society.

If we truly want to end global hunger by 2030, all G7 countries must rise to the challenge.

To that end, Japan’s G7 Presidency in 2023 will be vital to keeping global food security high on the agenda.

IFAD stands ready to support Japan’s leadership — whether from Rome or here in Yokohama.

Let me end by thanking the Government of Japan and the City of Yokohama for their generous support for this Liaison Office.

We look forward to an even closer partnership between ‎IFAD and Japan in the future.