 Thank you for the invitation to join you as guests of honour at this annual observance of World Food Day in the Asia and Pacific region. When I spoke at this regional World Food Day last year, on the 75th anniversary of FAO, the mood was somber with the entire world in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had hoped that the situation would be much improved the following year. However, sadly, safe for some countries, the situation has not improved. The pandemic has caused extreme levels of damage to lives and livelihoods, particularly here in Asia-Pacific region, and the consequences will be felt for many years to come. Meanwhile, the climate continues to heat up, causing even more loss and destruction and increase in hunger. The most recent global estimates on hunger from FAO and its sister UN agencies announced this summer estimated that some 811 million people, one in every 10 people on earth, was hungry last year, and that is not taking into account the full impact of the pandemic. This region accounts for more than half of those that are undernourished. In short, we need to work much better to end hunger than we have done so far to help millions of people, including small holders and family farmers, to recover from COVID-19 and lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. That is the main takeaway message of this year's World Food Day. We must do better. We must do better to produce our food more sustainably so that people derive better nutrition and incomes from them and ensure a better, cleaner environment and better quality lives for everyone. Nearly 40% of the world's population cannot afford a healthy diet. And while we can blame the global pandemic for making matters worse, much of the problem existed even before this pandemic. We promised ourselves, indeed the world promised itself, that by 2030 we would reach the sustainable development goals, including SDG-2 of achieving zero hunger in all its forms and SDG-1 and end to poverty. And yet globally, 20% more women than men, aged 25 to 34, live in extreme poverty and more than 18% of indigenous women live on less than $1.90 a day. We promised to leave no one behind, so we should keep our promises. Transforming our agri-food systems will be a necessary challenge to build back better, to ensuring those for better are achieved. It is a big challenge that as we have heard just last month at the UN Food Systems Summit in New York, it is actually a challenge. Many players are keen to take on from governments to private sector and civil society. There is a role for everyone and especially for those on the front line, the family and smallholder farmers who work the land and the seas every day of their working lives. More than a billion people are involved in the agri-food sector, especially women who do the majority of work in the fields that produce food and then look after their families and yet receive very few benefits if at all in return. During another video message in the pre-food systems summit in July, I mentioned that there is indeed a role for everyone to play and that includes youth. I spoke about the school feeding program I have been involved with here in Thailand for more than 40 years. At first, the program was only a school project for agriculture, for school lunch, but nowadays it is the model of sustainable consumption patterns and concept of which is useful to many communities. Everyone knows about the importance of food nutrients to the body and the relationship between diet and health. In school clinics, teachers and health workers teach pupils about health, sanitation, clean environment, clean food, clean drinking water, hand washing, clean kitchen and clean toilets. School clinics often provide pupils, vitamins and mineral supplements such as multivitamins, iodine and iron. Lastly, we also emphasize on environmental protection and preservation of local and national cultures. In the long run, these are related to both physical and mental health of the whole population. So finally, let me say that for our region to be better, we must be better together. We must move forward at the same time to be better at production, to be better as nutrition and to be better with our environment and to be better for all our lives. Our actions are indeed our future. Thank you.