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Wagner presents Andean Rural
Development and Agricultural
Competitiveness Program at FAO
Lima, Oct. 18 2005. Andean
Community Secretary General, Allan
Wagner Tizón, informed the Food
and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) in Rome
that "the principal aim of the
Andean Rural Development and
Agricultural Competitiveness
Program already under way is to
improve the living conditions of
rural inhabitants in the five
Andean countries through actions
that go far beyond trade.”
"Agriculture is a key production
activity for the Andean countries,
not only because of its
significant contribution to GDP
and foreign currency earnings, but
also because its participation in
creating jobs and supplying food
products is decisive for the
development of those countries,”
he went on to add.
The CAN Secretary General asserted
this fact at the plenary session
held yesterday as part of the
celebration of FAO’s 60th
anniversary. Also present were
the Presidents of Brazil, Luiz
Inácio Lula Da Silva; Venezuela,
Hugo Chávez; Paraguay, Nicanor
Duarte; Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe;
and Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, and
Ecuadorian Vice-President
Alejandro Serrano, among others.
Wagner reported that the actions
being taken with regard to rural
development and agricultural
competitiveness are part of the
Andean Community’s New Strategic
Design, one of whose key elements
is the recovery of the idea of
competitive and socially inclusive
development.
He emphasized that the Andean
Presidents meeting at the
Fifteenth Andean Summit in Quito
in July 2004 ordered the launching
of the Andean Rural Development
and Agricultural Competitiveness
Program approved by the Ministers
of Agriculture and providing for
actions in the areas of rural
development, food security, the
changing of agricultural
production patterns, policy
harmonization, development of
competitiveness by production
chains, reinforcement of
agricultural health, technological
innovation and management of
agricultural and forestry
resources.
In referring to the progress made
in implementing that program, he
announced that the Ministers of
Trade meeting in Enlarged
Commission with the Ministers of
Agriculture had approved the
creation of a Fund for its
financing and the defining of
guidelines with FAO’s assistance
for a regional food security
strategy. An Andean Forum will
also be held in coordination with
FAO and a virtual space will be
put into operation on the
subject.
Wagner concluded by requesting
that the FAO representative in
Lima act as the liaison between
the Andean Community General
Secretariat and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations for the development
of subregional programs between
the two organizations.
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