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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D, has reiterated Ireland’s commitment to eliminating global hunger on World Food Day, 16 October 2022.

Commenting on the theme of “Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow”, the Minister said: “There are now over 828 million people affected by hunger globally. Despite efforts to make progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger (SDG 2), conflict, climate change and the enduring impact of Covid-19 are driving higher levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. As a global community, we can overcome these challenges to create a better future by transforming our disrupted agri-food systems to deliver affordable and nutritious diets for all.”

“Ireland, through its participation in the UN Food Systems Summit and its partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has become a leading advocate for agri-food systems transformation. Our national agri-food strategy Food Vision 2030 was developed using a food systems approach and recognises the importance of agri-food systems transformation for the delivery of the Sustainable Food Systems globally.”

Minister McConalogue will deliver a keynote address to the World Food Forum in Rome on Monday 17  October where he will reiterate the importance of transformation to sustainable agri-food systems. In advance of this plenary address, he will also meet with the Director-General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, to further discuss Ireland’s important partnership with FAO, which is underpinned by the recent Ireland-FAO Framework Agreement and Ireland’s support of the UN multi-agency Food Transformation Hub hosted in FAO.

The World Food Forum, which will take place 17 to 21 October under the theme of “Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet”, is a global youth movement to transform agri-food systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2 – Zero Hunger. Ireland’s youth delegation, whose participation is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is comprised of six diverse youth leaders and innovators in the areas of food production, food loss & waste, food insecurity and nutrition.

On Tuesday, 18 October, Minister McConalogue will travel to Milan for a number of Bord Bia engagements with key Italian trade customers for quality assured  Irish food and drink.

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