First G20 Agriculture Deputies Meeting (Food and Water) held in Riyadh

Riyadh, 27 January 2020– The Presidency of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted the first G20 Agriculture Deputies Meeting (ADM) on food and water in the Hotel Fairmont Riyadh from 26 to 27 January 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to take stock of efforts and progress made by the G20 on food security and water action since its last presidency, as well as reviewing and discussing three zero drafts on:

(1) The first ADM Communiqué, Concept Note on Framework, (2) Enhance Implementation and Reporting on Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, (3) Action Plan on Water.

Six FAO delegates attended the meeting, including Mr Arop Deng from the IPPC Secretariat); Ms Sasha KooOshima from the FAO’s Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department (CBL); and Mr Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, Mr Georgios Rapsomanikis, Ms Clarissa Roncato Baldin and Mr Denis Drechsler from the FAO’s Trade and Markets Division (EST). Encouraging global collaboration to achieve water sustainability and food security were on top of the meeting agenda. During the two-day event, FAO representatives exchanged best practices to address new challenges in food, agriculture, and water management. On the first day, FAO representatives delivered three presentations on food security, food loss and waste, as well as past and current FAO’s work in water.

Given the deep interrelation between plant health and food security, on January 27, Mr Arop Deng, IPPC Integration and Support Team Lead, delivered a presentation on transboundary plant pests and diseases (TPPDs) in the parallel session on food security. The discussion focussed on “global challenges of Transboundary Plant Pests (TPPs) and FAO’s strategies in combating them, and actions required for the promotion of the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020 at various levels”. To complete the discussion, representatives from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) discussed the influence of animal pests and diseases and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) on food security.

The presentations delivered by IPPC, OIE and WHO greatly enhanced the discussion during the reviewing process of the ADM official communique that ensued, particularly on Section III on plant pests and animal diseases and Section VI on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR). There was a successful side meeting with Mr R. Hartman, Director of the IFAD’s Global Partnerships and Resources Mobilization Division (GPR), who honoured the IPPC Secretariat’s invitation and accepted to attend CPM-15 and promote the IYPH.

The first G20 ADM resolved and directed the Secretariat to circulate the current draft of the communique to all G20 members and other participants with view of to continued reviewing until possible finalization in the second ADM to be held on 18-19 March 2020 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For more information, visit www.g20.org/en/pages/home.aspx Photos are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos