By KUNA,
Rome : The high-level conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on food security and global challenges is due to start later on Tuesday at FAO headquarters, where a large number of representatives of various countries, including Kuwait, is participating.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitani, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf are to open the three-day conference, held in response to an invitation by FAO, currently concerned with the international food crisis and the global challenges that threaten the food security.
Leading figures from more than 45 countries are participating in the conference. They include 23 presidents, namely Nicolas Sakozy of France, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Mauritanian President Sheik Abdullah, besides a number of Prime Ministers of Italy, Spain, Japan, Morocco and Yemen.
Kuwait is participating with a high-level official delegation, headed by Chairman of Board and Director General of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) Jassem Al-Bader, and the Head of economic department at Kuwait Foreign Ministry, Sheikh Ali Khaled Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
The delegation also includes vice chairman for the financial affairs at (PAAAFR) Hanadi Ghloom, Hamad Al-Derbasi, Jalal Al-Lingawi and Walid Al-Bahar from Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), Kuwait’s ambassador to Italy Walid Al-Khubaizi and Permanent Representative of Kuwait to FAO Dr Lamya Al-Saqqaf.
General items expected to be included by the conference evolve around high food prices, reasons and consequences, possible resolutions, climatic exchange, and its effects on food security, besides matters related to the agricultural field and animal pests, cross-border diseases and energy.
The conference will be focusing on the challenges that face the international food security, and the supply and demand as well as marketing structures.
The representatives of the member countries in FAO will discuss the organization request of collecting euro 1.7 billion urgently to encounter the current food crisis by focusing on raising the productivity of farmers in developing and poor countries for sake of food security.