Addressing the meeting, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, affirmed that agriculture is a key sector in Southeast Asia, creating jobs for 30% of the population, making up 12% of the GDP, and significantly contributing to the regional efforts towards poverty alleviation, sustainable development and reducing hunger.
He cited statistics as showing that there will be 670 million people, or 8% of the world population, face food shortage in 2030. Facing this challenge, the ASEAN continues to commit to strengthening regional food security through the implementation of the cooperation strategy on food and agro-forestry, the Food Security Framework and Food Security Action Strategy for the 2021-2026 period and Nutrition Strategy Framework and Action Programme for the 2018-2030 period.
The ASEAN highly values the policy recommendations and support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as well as resident coordinators and UN agencies in regional countries in this regard, Ambassador Giang stated.
Regarding poverty eradication, he said that this is one of ASEAN's most important priorities. ASEAN has made significant progress in implementing initiatives and strategies to promote regional cooperation and inclusive development in rural and urban areas, and speed up poverty eradication, including the Framework Action Plan on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication 2021 – 2025, ASEAN Development Outlook, and the poverty reduction and development forum under the ASEAN Socio-Economic Community.
In this process, promoting trade, investment and corporate leadership as well as human resources development and public-private partnerships will be important tools for job creation and poverty eradication, he stated.
Highlighting the region’s vulnerability towards the impact of climate change, he reaffirmed the ASEAN’s commitment towards the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Giang stressed that the ASEAN will continue to make strong commitments and contributions to joint efforts in the work and cooperate with the international community in realising sustainable development goals regarding poverty reduction, sustainable development and food security for all.
At the meeting, participants expressed their worry about lingering hunger, poverty and inequality, with over 80% of the poor people living in rural areas, and food security has been threatened by COVID-19, conflicts and global challenges.
They underlined the need to take comprehensive and multilateral measures with the engagement of all relevant parties in order to eliminate hunger and poverty, ensure food security, and strengthen the sustainable resilience of the food system. They also called on development partners and UN agencies to strengthen the capacity building and experience sharing regarding hunger and poverty reduction in developing countries.
