Italy, in its capacity as a pro-actively host country, welcomes the growing interaction and collaboration between the United Nations Roman-Based Agencies (RBAs). The intense cooperation in the field of food security and rural development represents a pillar of the Italian cooperation policy that we intend to consolidate.
In all the complex and numerous humanitarian crises that afflict the world in this dramatic historical phase, Italy works in close contact with the agencies of the UN Roman Pole to give its contribution in the areas of maximum fragility and vulnerability. The sensitivity and commitment that characterize our Country are also triggered by the dramatic and growing nexus between food insecurity and migratory phenomena (in which our Country has a consolidated management experience) that have brought out the evidence of an unequivocally tight linkage between hunger, migration and conflicts.
The spirit of maximum collaboration with the Roman Agencies has been evident during the Italian Presidency of the G7, to which the three organizations gave a contribution that was appreciated and valued.
Italy has promoted several events aimed at advancing some of the fundamental themes of the RBA policy, including the aforementioned nexus between conflict and hunger; disabilities in contexts of crisis management; and the contribution of agroecological practices to sustainable development.
Our Country considers a constant and growing cooperation between the UN Poles in Rome, Geneva and New York to be essential in order to make RBAs’ voice heard in discussions and decision-making processes that take place beyond Rome.
Italy closely follows the alignment of the Agencies with the QCPR (Quadriennal Comprehensive Policy Review) within the more general process of UN development system reform, with particular reference to the nexus between the development and the humanitarian dimensions.
Equally important is considered the proximity to the world of civil society, academics, research and NGOs, with which the Organizations of the Roman Pole have numerous agreements in place.
Italy is an active member of several informal groups of Member Countries in the Rome-based Agencies (FAO, WFP, IFAD):
– Group of Friends of RBA collaboration;
– Group of Friends of the Right to Food;
– Group of Friends of Agroecology at FAO;
– Group of Friends of Biodiversity at FAO.