[Cyprus Times] Climate change and food security discussed by Kadis-Dongiou

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Climate change and food security were discussed by the Minister. The importance that Cyprus attaches to addressing climate change, as well as food security, were the main points of discussion between the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis and the Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr. Kyu Dongiu, which took place on Wednesday 23 March in Rome.[/P]

According to a statement by the Ministry, during the meeting, the common objectives of Cyprus and FAO, areas of particular expertise and experience, as well as opportunities to further strengthen cooperation between the two parties were discussed, with Mr. Kadi stressing that Cyprus and FAO have remained committed partners in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition since 1960 and thanking the Director-General for his and the Organization's efforts to put food security and malnutrition at the top of the global political agenda.

As reported, the Minister added that Cyprus has a wealth of expertise in the field of aquaculture, referring to the activities of the Agricultural Research Institute and the Universities of Cyprus, and reiterated Cyprus' willingness to disseminate this knowledge to other countries through FAO.

Subsequently, it is reported that Mr. Kadis underlined the importance that Cyprus attaches to tackling climate change and informed Dr. Kadis of the importance that Cyprus attaches to climate change. In this context, as noted, he invited the Director-General to the June Ministerial Meeting for the finalization of the Regional Action Plan and to the October Regional Summit for the ratification of the Action Plan by the Heads of State.

In this context, as noted, he invited the Director-General to the June Ministerial Meeting for the finalization of the Regional Action Plan and to the October Regional Summit for the ratification of the Action Plan by the Heads of State. Kew congratulated the Minister for the important initiative of Cyprus, stressing that FAO will support it, stating that he will make efforts to attend the Summit, and in turn invited Mr. Kadi to participate in the Science and Innovation Week to be held for the first time at FAO in early October.

An important topic of discussion, according to the statement, was the alarming situation of food security due to conflict, severe climate variability, the downward trend of the economy and inequality, exacerbated by pandemic COVID-19, with the Minister of Agriculture underlining that Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, among other things, opens a huge wound with incalculable damage to food sufficiency and food prices globally, and calling on the FAO to continuously provide updated analytical data on the impact of the war on food security, food prices, fertilizer prices, commodity markets and the food supply chain.

For his part, Dr. Q said that as a technical organization, FAO has been working since day one on the crisis in Ukraine and strongly supports the UN Secretary General's Global Crisis Response Team on Food, Energy and the Economy.

Finally, it is noted that Mr. Kadis presented the FAO Director-General with a sample of Cypriot haloumi, as well as a copy of the drawing by schoolgirl Leonis Vassiliou, which received the first prize in the FAO World Poster Competition for the celebration of World Food Day 2021, in the 13-15 age group.

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