The United Nations Summit, organised to review achievements to date since the 2021 Summit on food systems and related new challenges, starts today at FAO headquarters in Rome.

The event is attended, on behalf of the Republic of San Marino, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luca Beccari, accompanied by a Delegation led by the Ambassador of San Marino to FAO, Daniela Rotondaro.

The high-level opening ceremony was attended by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the Head of the Italian Government, Giorgia Meloni, FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu, IFAD President, Alvaro Lario, WFP Executive Director, Mc Cain, and numerous Heads of State and Government of member countries.

Minister Beccari spoke with the FAO Director-General, inviting him to San Marino to discuss topics of common interest. As many as 189 countries participate in this important international event. Minister Beccari had the opportunity to greet the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and the entire Italian Delegation, as well as the Delegations from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Romania, Montenegro and Serbia, recalling his most recent visit to the latter.

The event provides a forum for countries to review progress on their commitments and identify successes, difficulties and enduring priorities in order to fill the implementation gap for the transformation of food systems.

The three-day meeting will further highlight the central role of food systems transformation in the overall progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the run-up to the Summit scheduled for September 2023 in New York, which will be the focus of the UN General Assembly, this event advocates for urgent action on a large scale, building on the latest evidence that sustainable food systems contribute to better and more direct outcomes for individuals, the planet, prosperity and development, without forgetting anyone.

San Marino is actively participating in this significant Summit also by virtue of its recent Chairmanship of the FAO European Regional Group, where it coordinated activities that are particularly sensitive to global dynamics also at a geopolitical and strategic level.

San Marino, 24 July 2023