The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum is expected to gain new progress towards ensuring food security, especially when Vietnam as host country proposed three initiatives regarding this issue for the APEC Year 2017.
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According to the United Nations, the number of people deprived of food exceeded 1 billion in 2009 for the first time.
In the context that the world population is predicted to increase to 9.6 billion in 2050 from 7.2 billion currently, global food output must rise by 70%. It will pose a big challenge in ensuring food security for the globe, including the APEC economies which make up around 40% of the world population.
The problem is even tougher for APEC as the Asia-Pacific region is prone to frequent natural disasters. Statistics show that the region suffers 70% of natural disasters and 90% of earthquakes.
Climate change, water shortage and urbanisation are also hindering agricultural production in the region.
Being aware of this challenge, APEC ministers in charge of food security gathered for the first time in Niigata, Japan, in October 2010, during which the Niigata Declaration on Food Security was approved, making it APEC’s first comprehensive plan to intensify efforts to ensure sustainable food security in the region.
The declaration stressed the importance of APEC in improving food security of the region and the globe, while pinpointing sustainable agriculture as one of the two goals for the member economies, besides facilitating investment and trade.
After the success of the first APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security (AMMFS) in Niigata, it has been held biennially. At each meeting, participating ministers approved new action plans on food security.
Notably, within the frame work of the APEC Year 2014 in China, APEC officials adopted the APEC Food Security Roadmap towards 2020, in which the long-term goal was the attainment of a regional food system structure that can ensure lasting food security for APEC member economies as well as enhance food supply efficiency and provide more affordable food for low income consumers.
Additionally, in 2011, the APEC Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) was established to strengthen public-private cooperation to address food security issues in the region.
In 2017, as the host of the APEC Year, Vietnam chooses food security and sustainable agriculture adaptive to climate change as one of the four prioritised topics.
At the PPFS meeting held in Nha Trang city of Khanh Hoa province in February, the country proposed three initiatives: Action plan for the APEC Strategic Framework on Rural-Urban Development to Strengthen Food Security and Quality Growth; Action plan for the APEC Programme on Food Security and Climate Change; and the Can Tho declaration on sustainable growth and food security in response to climate change.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) also put forth two suggestions focusing on the development of agribusiness to support the transformation of rural labours in APEC member economies, and the impact of climate change adaptation on food security strategies.
These proposals have been applauded by participants of the meeting, said Tran Kim Long, Director of the MARD’s Department of International Cooperation, adding that they lay a foundation for upcoming APEC activities, particularly a high-level policy dialogue on food security and sustainable agriculture slated for August in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
Vietnam highly evaluates India’s role and contributions to regional peace, stability and development, and always regards India as one of its most important partners, the top leader said.
The Party and State leaders expressed their profound respect and boundless gratitude to President Ho Chi Minh, who founded and trained the Communist Party of Vietnam and made immense contributions to the Party and nation’s glorious revolutionary cause.
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Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Jesús Faria expressed deep admiration for President Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam’s indomitable struggle for national independence. He described President Ho Chi Minh as an immortal symbol of 20th-century national liberation movements, whose legacy continues to inspire leftist parties, progressive movements, and peoples across Latin America, including Venezuela.
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Both sides emphasised that advancing bilateral relations is a shared strategic choice, and pledged to steadfastly pursue the socialist path and jointly safeguard the socialist regimes and the leadership role of their Communist Parties as their most fundamental common strategic interest, Ambassador He Wei said.
At the meetings, the senior Vietnamese Party official affirmed that Vietnam would continue to work closely with Cambodia to strengthen and deepen bilateral ties, while consistently supporting Cambodia’s peaceful, stable and prosperous development.
Vietnam highly values the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in strengthening national capacity in crime prevention and criminal justice, drug control, and addressing emerging challenges, particularly cybercrime, said Ambassador Vu Le Thai Hoang.
NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man underlined that digital transformation must go beyond investing in software or platforms and instead create substantive changes in working methods, advisory quality and operational efficiency.
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Bui Thi Minh Hoai was re-elected President of the the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee for the 2026-2031 tenure at the first conference of the 11th-term VFF Central Committee, held before the closing session of its 11th National Congress on May 13 morning in Hanoi.
At the meeting this week, Ambassador Viet briefed the UNGA President on developments during the first two weeks of the conference. He stressed that the current international geopolitical landscape poses numerous complex challenges, while reaffirming Vietnam’s determination, together with other member states, to promote substantive and balanced outcomes at the conference.
The host leader stressed that cooperation between localities, particularly between the capitals of Hanoi and Vientiane, plays an especially important role as a pioneering force in effectively implementing the foreign polices of the two Parties and States, while also serving as a bridge between politics and development, as well as between strategy and concrete action.
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Prime Minister Le Minh Hung praised ministries and agencies for their proactive steps since the beginning of this year and especially from early April to follow the Politburo’s Resolution 57 and Conclusion 18, with clear, positive progress.