With the invitation of FAO and CFS and approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the PRC, Prof. Li Xiande attended the 47th CFS Conference held online from 8 to 11 February, 2021, as the head of Chinese government delegation.

The theme of this conference includes the keynote address on "Food Security and Nutrition: Building a Global Narrative towards 2030", Global Thematic Event on the CFS Framework for Action on Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises, the decision of CFS Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPoW) 2020-2023, endorsement and adoption of The CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSyN) and a special session of the CFS Secretariat on the impact of CFS policy approaches on food security and nutrition at the country level and on recovery from the COVID-19.

Delegations made plenary presentations on the topics of Food Security and Nutrition Towards 2030 and the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition, and noted that the HLPE report presented several necessary aspects of the fundamental transformation of the global food system in the context of moving towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In particular, the concept of food security, which previously emphasized four dimensions (availability, access, utilization and stability), was complemented by two new dimensions (sustainability and agency), reflecting the concerns of the current world about food security and nutrition and the efforts in the search for solutions. With the number of hungry people rising rather than falling globally, the continuing impact of the COVID-19 and the enormous challenge of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG2), the international community must change its mindset, work together and take concrete and strong action to reverse the negative situation and work together for a world without hunger!

There were 107 members of the CFS (including 14 ministers and 5 deputy ministers), 7 non-member states of the CFS and 13 UN agencies, 130 civil society organizations, 8 international agricultural research organizations, 8 international and regional financial institutions and 84 private sector associations, and 181 observers that participated in this conference.

Prof. Li Xiande was reelected the member of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of CFS in 2019. He contributes to the research on global food security and safety, regulation of international agriculture, and trade of agricultural products for a long time, and carried out the international consultation and negotiation tasks as the head of Chinese government delegations.

By Wang Yan (wangyan05@caas.cn)