Minister Väyrynen at the FAO Conference on World Food Security: It is finally time to move from words to deeds
Press release 196/2008
4 June, 2008
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen took part on 4 June in the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy arranged by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome. Väyrynen delivered a statement on behalf of Finland, stressing that it is finally time to move from words to deeds in order to solve the food crisis and combat climate change.
In 1987 the Brundtland Commission already predicted the present food crisis and was able to warn about climate change, and at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, world leaders made commitments on measures promoting sustainable development. Now we can state that we have not fulfilled these commitments, which would have made it possible to avoid many of the current problems. We have to move from words to deeds, Väyrynen stated.
Väyrynen underscored the roles of both developing and industrialised countries in solving the food crisis and combating climate change. The challenge for developing countries is to create development strategies that serve the achievement of their development goals in a sustainable manner. Industrialised countries, on the other hand, must pay attention to the sustainability of their patterns of production and consumption, and must implement policies that promote sustainable development globally.
The food crisis requires comprehensive solutions. In the longer term, agriculture and rural development is the key to solving the problem. At the same time, we must consider the effects of trade, the environment, energy and climate change on the food crisis, he emphasised.
In association with the conference, Väyrynen met with the Director-General of FAO, the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia and the Assistant Director-General of the FAO Forestry Department.
Additional information: First Secretary Anu Konttinen, mobile tel. +358 40 740 8965, and Päivi Nevala, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 40 753 4375