The 1st Summit Advisory Committee Meeting of Food Systems Summit 2021 was held on July 7, 2020. Prof. Nie Fengying, Deputy Director-General of the Agricultural Information Institute of CAAS, participated in the digital meeting as one of the member state representatives of the Summit Advisory Committee. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations who serves as the Chair of the Summit Advisory Committee chaired the meeting. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, WFP Executive Director David Beasley, together with other Advisory Committee Members joined the event and made important remarks. The Food Systems Summit 2021 aims to meet the challenges of building food systems that benefit people and planet and help to achieve the 2030 Development Agenda.

The Summit Advisory Committee set an ambitious vision and approach for the Food Systems Summit to build “A People’s Summit” and “A Solutions Summit” by taking up new actions, innovative solutions and strategies, recognizing that food systems touch all stakeholders – every government, organization, individual. The meeting reviewed the roadmap and milestones of Summit and proposed approach. It emphasized that the success of the Summit depends on the overall support of member states and the global community. During the discussion, Prof. Nie Fengying emphasized the importance of inclusive food value chain development, especially for family farming and smallholder farmers.

The Food Systems Summit 2021 was announced by the UN Secretary General on the World Food Day 2019 as part of the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. The Summit had been jointly requested by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Prof. Nie Fengying was recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and accepted by the UN as a member of the Advisory Committee of Food Systems Summit 2021 in June 2020. The Advisory Committee will meet on a quarterly basis from July 2020 to December 2021.

by Dong Jiaxin

dongjiaxin@caas.cn