Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon on Monday visited the new headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), praising that IFAD and its leadership for the organization's long-standing work in eradicating rural poverty.
"For more than three decades, IFAD has led some of the UN's most successful development efforts aimed at the rural poor across the world," said Ban.
"IFAD, in particular, represents a unique partnership between OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. You have expanded your investment in agriculture even as so many others have reduced their spending," he said.
Ban was speaking at IFAD on the eve of a high-level conference on World Food Security, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization with IFAD as one of the co-sponsors. The conference starts in Rome on Tuesday and will be attended by a host of world leaders amid rising concern about the impact of high food prices.
Ban said high food prices were endangering development gains. "Food riots are breaking out. If not handled properly, this issue could trigger a cascade of other crises -- affecting economic growth, social progress, and even political security around the world," he said.
The UN secretary general praised IFAD's swift move to make available 200 million U.S. dollars to provide poor farmers the inputs they need to plant for the next season.
"For years, falling food prices and rising production lulled the world into complacency. Governments put off hard decisions and overlooked the need to invest in agriculture. Today, we are literally paying the price," he said.
Ban also praised the Italian government for hosting IFAD and the two other Rome-based UN agencies, the FAO and the World Food Program. "In this very real sense, Italy works for the UN so that the UN may work for the world," he said.
In welcoming Ban, Lennart Bage, president of IFAD said, "The challenges being addressed at this week's high level conference make clear that the demands on us will continue to grow. IFAD will work closely with our partners here in Rome and elsewhere."
Source:Xinhua
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