Agricultural minister shares Korea's food security plan at UN meeting

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sat, September 30, 2023 | 18:54

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Agricultural minister shares Korea's food security plan at UN meeting

Posted : 2021-09-27 14:19

Updated : 2021-09-27 23:07

Kim Hyeon-soo, the minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, speaks in a video message during the U.N. Food Systems Summit last week. Courtesy of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural affairs

By Yi Whan-woo

Kim Hyeon-soo, the minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, addressed Korea's plan for food security during the U.N. Food Systems Summit last week, the ministry said Monday.

In a video message, Kim highlighted the nation's strategies to enhance access to adequate amounts of nutritious and safe food, and also to produce environmentally-friendly agricultural goods.

Such initiatives, according to the ministry, are aimed at backing sustainable development goals (SDGs), the specifics of which had been discussed at last week's U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

The summit is aimed at setting the stage for global food systems transformation to achieve the U.N. SDGs by 2030. It attracted U.N. representatives, government officials, business leaders, researchers and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from more than 150 countries.

"Minister Kim made it clear that Korea will be an active part of the fight against poverty, expansion of school nutrition programs and other global efforts for food security," the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry said the U.N. event was beneficial in terms of reaching a consensus that issues on food security should be approached in a systematic manner and that such a system is linked to virtually every shared goal of humankind.

"The government will capitalize on official development assistance to contribute to global security," the ministry said.

The five key areas discussed during the summit were how to nourish all people, boost nature-based solutions, advance equitable livelihoods, decent work and empowered communities, build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses; and support means of implementation.

Also attending the summit were U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi who represented the G20 nations, and U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Qu Dongyu.

Secretary-General Guterres lauded the meeting for "injecting new life into multilateralism" and for "leading the way to food systems that can drive the global recovery in three fundamental ways."

"As the pandemic physically pushed us apart, the preparations for this summit brought us together," Guterres was quoted as saying in a statement. "Through national dialogues, governments gathered together businesses, communities and civil society to chart pathways for the future of food systems across 148 countries. Over 100,000 people came together to discuss and debate solutions ― many of which are now being shared at this summit."

The summit was the fruition of a proposal Guterres made in 2019 on the occasion of World Food Day.

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