Activities of Secretary-General in Italy, 24-25 July
On Monday, 24 July, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Rome to take part in the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment. The high-level event builds on the momentum of the 2021 Food Systems Summit. The meeting was hosted by the Government of Italy, in collaboration with the Rome-based United Nations Agencies, the United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub and the wider United Nations system.
In his remarks at the event’s opening ceremony, the Secretary-General underscored that global food systems are broken, and billions of people are paying the price. He highlighted that broken food systems are not inevitable, and they are the result of choices we have made.
In a world of plenty, it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger, Guterres told the delegates.
Commenting on the recent decision by the Russian Federation’s termination of the Black Sea Initiative, the Secretary-General said the picture had grown bleaker given that the Initiative had enabled the safe export of more than 32 million metric tons of food on more than 1,000 vessels from Ukrainian ports. Alongside the memorandum of understanding with the Russian Federation to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports, the two had been lifelines for global food security and global food price stability.
For his part, he reiterated his commitment to facilitating the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilizers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation. He also called on the Russian Federation to return to the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, along the lines of the Secretary-General’s proposals.
He also urged the global community to stand united for immediate solutions in this essential effort. (See Press Release SG/SM/21888.)
On the margins of the meeting at FAO headquarters, the Secretary-General had bilateral meetings with the Presidents Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal and Vahagn Khachaturyan of Armenia, as well as with the President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and Muhammad Al Jasser, President of the Islamic Development Bank.
While in Rome, the Secretary-General also met at Palazzo del Quirinale with the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.
Prior to leaving Rome on the morning of 25 July, the Secretary-General met Sergey Vershinin, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation.
The Secretary-General returned to New York on Tuesday, 25 July.