The 5th edition of this event, held annually at the headquarters of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) since 2021, brings together, since Monday, a dozen heads of State and Government, 115 ministers and deputy ministers, as well as researchers and representatives of international organizations.

“Food can be the basis for peace, dignity, and shared prosperity,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu underscored in his Monday opening speech of the meeting, which has special significance this year as it coincides with the celebrations of the institution’s 80th anniversary.

In video messages to the participants in that forum, the presidents of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and Ireland, Michael Higgins, congratulated the FAO on its anniversary and acknowledged its importance in confronting the world’s pressing food problems.

A report from that organization’s press office indicates that the president “stressed the urgent need for global solidarity and transformative action to build sustainable agri-food systems.”

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel emphasized that “the commemoration of FAO’s 80th anniversary allows us to recognize the work along with Cuba to achieve a better production, a better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.”

Diaz-Canel recalled the words made in 1996 during the World Food Summit (WFS) by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who warned, “The bells that toll today for those who die of hunger every day will toll tomorrow for all of humanity if it did not want, did not know how, or was not wise enough to save itself.”

Under the theme “Let’s Work for Better Food and a Better Future,” a record number of participants, with more than 25,000 registrations, are expected at this 5th WFF, “for a week of dialogue, innovation, and collaboration aimed at transforming global agri-food systems,” the FAO release states.

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