Italia: Visita in Etiopia e partecipazione al Vertice delle Nazioni Unite sui Sistemi alimentari

[Intervento al Vertice delle Nazioni Unite sui Sistemi Alimentari]

Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I am honored to be here today to co-chair the third United Nations Food Systems Summit with Prime Minister Abiy, whom I thank once again for his hospitality and for his friendship.

This is the first time that this Summit is being held in Africa. We chose to co-organize this event in Addis Ababa with the Ethiopian government, not only because Italy has a special relationship with Ethiopia and a pragmatic cooperation based on concrete projects and initiatives, but also because we believe it is essential to involve the African continent as a protagonist in the choices and actions of the international community.

Starting, of course, with the momentous challenge that is the subject of our work today: food security. This is a top priority challenge, as demonstrated by the broad and qualified participation in this Summit and the presence of UN Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed, whom I greet and thank.

Although it has drastically decreased over the last seventy years, global food insecurity still affects around 10% of the world’s population. This percentage is largely concentrated here in Africa, where one in five people suffer from hunger and do not have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to lead a healthy life. This situation, already complex, has been exacerbated by the crises the world is currently facing. While we were working to overcome the shock of the pandemic, we had to deal with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which disrupted economic and trade flows and processes, destabilized energy markets, and fuelled waves of inflation that hit the most fragile Nations, especially in the Global South and in Africa.

And we know very well that when people do not have access to sufficient food or lose the means to produce it, the consequences can be catastrophic: poverty worsens, conflicts intensify, and communities become more vulnerable to violence, terrorism, or forced migration.

Food insecurity is therefore, in its every aspect, a political issue. But not only. It is also, and above all, an economic issue. We would be making a serious mistake if we limited ourselves to looking at food systems through the face of poverty, suffering, and hunger. Food systems are an engine of growth and development, both for the most fragile nations and for those that are economically more solid. At the heart of our action there must therefore be the development for the communities where we choose to focus our efforts on, as it is not enough to help those communities produce the food needed to feed the population, but it is also necessary for that food to be marketed and have access to markets, with solid and resilient production and distribution chains.

This is the only way we can enable a community to prosper with the resources it possesses, generating employment and stable, lasting growth.

This is Italy’s point of view.

And it is the red line that links the initiatives and projects of the Mattei Plan for Africa. Starting, of course, with the agri-food sector, an area in which Italy can boast unique know-how that combines tradition and innovation. We have made this heritage available to our African partners, and together with them we have built public-private partnerships that attract investments and guarantee concrete results.

We are successfully testing this in Algeria, where we are working to reclaim over 36,000 hectares of desert to produce up to 40-45,000 tons of additional cereals and legumes per year, creating 6,000 jobs and generating benefits for over 600,000 people. This endeavour is also underway in Senegal, Ghana, and Congo, and aims to soon involve Côte d’Ivoire and, President Ruto, Kenya. Our blueprint is also working in Tunisia, where we are strengthening capacities and skills for the use of water, a resource around which there will be an increasing geopolitical and sovereignty challenge.

But we have chosen to apply this vision to other projects as well, such as the one developed together with the European Union’s Global Gateway, which combines European financial resources and private capital to support the development of coffee production chains in various African nations.

And then there is, of course, the centrality of the technical and scientific training, which is crucial to making a difference and must be integrated into a supply chain approach, from seed to product distribution. In this context, just a few days ago, we signed an agreement for the establishment of a professional agricultural training center in Algeria, which will serve as a reference point for the Sahel and the whole of Africa.

Our goal— we have stated this on many occasions—is not to create dependency, but to support self-reliance. This goal also involves what we usually refer to as “food sovereignty,” the right of people to shape their own production model based on their identity. Food sovereignty means not going along with the standardization of food production—which lowers quality and concentrates wealth—but instead investing in promoting local, high-quality products. Small and medium-sized farmers and their families are the backbone of agricultural and environmental systems. They are the primary guardians of the land and must be given the means to live with dignity, and with a fair recognition of their work. This is why Italy—with its network of institutions, businesses, and protection consortia—is ready to do its part to promote the export of African Geographical Indications to European and global markets, by building promotion and distribution networks.

Dear Deputy Secretary Mohammed, dear Prime Minister Abiy, colleagues,

Cicero, one of the most important philosophers of Ancient Rome, said that “of all the arts from which some profit is gained, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none sweeter, none more worthy of a man, and of a free man.”

Thousands of years later, this teaching is still valid and shows us the way forward. Food is a right, a cultural expression, the pillar of a Nation’s identity and sovereignty. But it is also the first step towards being truly free, independent, and masters of our own destiny.

Thank you.

Questa mattina, prima di giungere alla sede del Vertice, il Presidente ha tenuto un punto stampa.