By NNN-APP,
Rome, Italy : Begum Fauzia Yusuf Raza Gilani, wife of the prime minister arrived here Saturday to attend the second Summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of the First Ladies.
Begum Gilani who arrived here by a commercial flight, was received at Rome International Airport by Pakistan’s ambassador to Italy Tasnim Aslam and other senior embassy officials.
The summit on “Food Security and Women’s Access to Resources” aims at providing an opportunity to follow-up and build upon the outcome of the first Summit at Sharm el Sheikh, on the food crisis, as well as highlighting the positive impact that women can have on ongoing efforts to fight hunger.
Earlier talking to APP on-board the Rome bound flight, the First Lady said her objective to attend the NAM summit is to avail the opportunity of injecting a sense of urgency to the discussions on food security and other challenges confronting the world.
The First Lady said at NAM platform, she would highlight Pakistan’s initiatives taken on food security, with prime focus on women’s enhanced role in this sector.
She stressed the need to addressing the country’s agricultural and environmental problems due to climatic change, keeping in view the majority of population living in rural areas.
She said, being an agrarian economy, Pakistan can play a key role in meeting not only its food needs, but also that of other countries as well.
Begum Gilani will address the NAM Summit on Sunday (No 15) being held in conjunction with the World Food Summit at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
The summit aims at addressing the many aspects of hunger and malnutrition and identifying concrete steps that the NAM First Ladies could take to address through exchange of national experiences in ensuring women’s access to resources particularly land and credit as well as human capital and knowledge.
The First Lady’s delegation includes Misbah Momin, member National Commission on the Status of Women and Humaira Ahmed, Joint Secretary Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
As the global food insecurity situation continues to represent a serious threat to humanity, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the number of people suffering from chronic hunger and malnutrition could increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark.