SECRETARY-GENERAL PRAISES VITAL ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT FUND, IN MESSAGE TO ROME MEETING OF GOVERNING COUNCIL

SECRETARY-GENERAL PRAISES VITAL ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT FUND,

IN MESSAGE TO ROME MEETING OF GOVERNING COUNCIL

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the twenty-fourth session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), delivered on his behalf by the President of IFAD,

Fawzi Al-Sultan, in Rome on 20 February:

This twenty-fourth session of IFAD’s Governing Council is exceptionally timely and important.  Just five months ago, the world’s leaders pledged at the Millennium Summit to halve extreme poverty by 2015.  IFAD, as the member of the United Nations family dedicated to ending rural poverty and hunger, will be an essential and valuable partner in ensuring that the millennium target is translated into action.  The decisions that you make this week will help determine how IFAD contributes to this vital mission.  I know you will do everything to ensure that your discussions are productive and innovative.

Your meeting comes only two weeks after IFAD launched its report underscoring the indispensability of a focus on rural poverty in achieving the 2015 target.  The Rural Poverty Report 2001: The Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty reminds us that those living in rural areas form the majority of the world's poor -- and that this will probably still be true 30 years from now.  It tells us that agriculture will continue to be essential to their livelihoods.  And it shows us that urban and rural poverty are closely and inextricably linked.

In short, the report reminds us that if we do not focus on the rural areas, where three fourths of the world’s poor live, work and struggle to support their families, we will not achieve our targets for eradicating abject poverty.

That is why IFAD’s mandate is as vital today as the day it was born.  IFAD was created in the aftermath of the food crises of the early 1970s, to fill the gap in an international system that had no institution dedicated to the issues facing the rural poor.  Today, it continues to play that unique and vital role.  It tackles rural poverty not only as a lender, but also as an advocate for the rural poor.  Through its collaboration with other institutions, it works to maximize support for programmes that work to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

Two weeks ago, I joined IFAD’s President in launching the Rural Poverty Report at United Nations Headquarters.  On that occasion, we spoke about the report’s key messages and the need to empower rural people to lift themselves and their children out of abject poverty.  I now invite all of you to share a video record of that event, which further highlights IFAD’s role as an essential partner in the effort to achieve our millennium goal.  I wish you a most successful session.

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