Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Rome and Geneva, 27 November 1998
N° 3

From 29 November to 2 December, some 300 delegates from 76 Parliaments will meet in Rome for the Conference on "Attaining the World Food Summit's objectives through a sustainable development strategy" organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), hosted by the Italian Parliament with the financial support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Conference's main topics will cover parliamentary action to achieve food security, the dual demands resulting from the need to produce sufficient food while maintaining the resource base, and poverty eradication as a condition for access to food.

Experts from the United States, China, India, South Africa, France and Mexico will introduce the topics for parliamentary debate.

The Conference starts shortly after the presentation of FAO's Annual State on Food and Agriculture, according to which the number of undernourished persons has increased worldwide, over the level in the early nineties, because of the weak results achieved in reducing poverty.

In 1996, the Parliamentarians solemnly pledged to promote and support the Summit's goals, the first of which was to halve the number of undernourished people by the year 2015.

The inaugural session and the first day of this Specialised Conference will take place at the Chamber of Deputies, Palazzo Montecitorio, on Sunday 29 November at 10.30.

The Conference will open with addresses by: the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Luciano Violante; the President of the Senate, Nicola Manchino; the Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini; he President of the IPU Council, Miguel Angel Martínez (Spain); the Director General of FAO, Jacques Diouf, and the President of the Italian IPU Group, Antonio Martino.

The subsequent meetings (30 November - 2 December) will be convened at FAO Headquarters.

Massimo D'Alema, the Italian Prime Minister, will address the Conference on Monday at FAO.

Also on Monday, at noon, the parliamentarians will be received by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in a special audience in the Vatican.