 His Excellency Sergio Madalela, President of Republic of Italy, Honorable Chair of the 42nd Session of the FL Conference, Distinguished Independent Chair of the Council, Mr. Mabubu, Honorable Ministers, Head of Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to the 42nd Session of the FL Conference. I highly appreciate all the support and solidarity from the Holy Pope Francis during the past two years. This first virtual session of the conference in history started with the record-breaking 1,332 participants from around the world. The conference is honored by the presence of the 119 Ministers and Vice Ministers. Honorable guests, we are at a critical moment in time. We see the convergence of fact that if the ignorant are threatened to prevent us from the anti-global hunger and the malnutrition in all its forms. The number of the hunger people in the world increased by 10 million in 2019. The pandemic continues to deliver a severe blow with another 132 million of the chronically hungry people in the world by the end of 2020. The map shows the significant happening in Africa, Asia, and the Latin America. In addition, 155 million people in 55 countries have manifested the crisis level acute food insecurity. This map displays the latest integrated food security phase classification, APCs, and the kind of harmonizing, acute food insecurity classification across the world. Countries in IP3 or above, labored in the orange, are there in the crisis that could end in the PC4 or above if actually not taken immediately. This is the case of countries in conflict and those that suffer the substantial climate shocks. When you look into the other forms of malnutrition, China's standing remains acceptably high, overweight, obesity, continued increase in rich and poor countries around. The number of people living with obesity existed that of people in the hungry in 2012. And more than 3 billion people in the world cannot afford even the cheapest that has to dance. Understanding our present allows us to determine the future we wanted to reach. And we know where we needed to be by 2030. And the rushman has been reduced everywhere to be a maximum of 5%. Has it done, has had to be affordable for all. Overweight has to be reduced everywhere to levels of 15% similar to what it was in 1980s. Obesity needs to be reduced to no more than 5% in any country. Children's standing needs to decrease significantly. Inequality needs to be reduced substantially for a sustainable reduction of rural poverty. We needed to achieve the land degradation neutrality, increase the efficiency of water use in agricultural and the rich and the poorest equivalent of targets. Distinguished participants, the agro-food system covers the journey of the food from a farmer to table. This includes growing, harvesting and processing, distributing, trading and consuming. It also encompasses non-food products. This also constituted a livelihood and all of the people as well as the activities, investments and choices that are played a part in getting us these food and agricultural products. Together to where we needed to be by 2030, we must perceive the challenges facing us through the agro-food system and lands. And at the holistic level, our agro-food systems are not delivering the food, security and administration outcomes we wanted to achieve. Poverty and inequality are endemic in them. They are the largest economic system measured in terms of employment, livelihoods and the planetary impact. Worldwide, 1 billion people are employed in the agro-food system. Another 3.5 billion people earn their livelihoods from the extended systems. Ladies and gentlemen, global food security is facing multiple challenges. The number of hungry people has been rising since 2014 and the pandemic is aggravating this situation. Conflict, climate extremes, economic downturns, all this and my effort to end hunger, food insecurity and inequities. The growing world population increases the pressure on our natural resources and we need to ensure access by all people not only to basic food and also to the nutritional foods. All above, as we face on the immense challenges, more than 30% of total global land is degraded, more than 20% of world aquifers are over exploited and our agro-bald diversity is under threat. There is a secular interconnected impact across agro-food systems and other systems including environment and health systems. This includes more by rural land, outbreak of plants, animals, pests and diseases. COVID-19 and other diseases are rooted in the environmental chain. Our agro-food systems are not only victims in this interconnected group, but they are closely involved in the degradation of natural resources and health including pandemics and other diseases. If a comprehensive assessment of the world forest last year shows that forests recover an area of just over 4 billion hectares or around 31% of total global land area. It also tells us that the proportion of the land covered by forests, one of the sustainable development goals indicated is a decreasing. In the last 30 years, the world has a net loss of 178 million hectares of forest. Ladies and gentlemen, more than a year into the pandemic, we are witnessing the scale of the long-term impact on the agro-food systems and how has weathered the food security and insurance situation around the world and especially in food crisis countries. The pandemic and the related containment ratios have intensified pre-existing drivers of a freight elite as showing the slide for the food crisis countries. Widened inequalities, exposed structural vulnerabilities of local and global agro-food systems. Heated the most vulnerable groups and particularly hard. Hunger has increased in rural area and in the city, not only in the poorest nation, but also in upbeat income countries and even in the developed nations. Across all developing regions, income and rural households have been negatively affected due to the reduction on farmers' sources of income. Despite all these global food production have up well throughout the pandemic, at the aggregate level, food production continues rising in lines with the past trends. For 2021, aggregate food production actually even expected to rise above former rates. The slide shows how resilient the agricultural agro-food system despite the pandemic, that is a containment measures affecting agricultural trade worldwide. Trade specifically imports in food and agricultural products have had up remarkably well so far, measured in 2015 US dollars. Agricultural trade continued to expand at a pace slightly above the longer term trend. The faster expansion of the value with vessel quantities implies rising prices for trade in the food products. This is captured by next slide expecting the FL food price index. For many developing countries, this resulting in the record level of food import bills. Despite the resilience of agro-food systems, FL food price index averaged 127.1 points in May 2021, this is 40% higher than at the same period last year. Rising for 12 months in a row, the index is now only 7.8% below its peak value of 137.6 points registered in February 2011. The surge of last month's reflected recovery from the pandemic. This brought an increase in demand for oil, sugars, and cereals along with the firmer prices of meat and dairy products. In very general terms of the past year's time, supplies and amidst the strong international demand pushed up prices of most food commodities. At the same time, this reflected some vulnerability. Any climate shock that reduced global production and any increase in the demand by the big imported countries would put pressure on prices. Trade restrictions could also impact prices. Shrinking global reserves reduced the buffering capacity. Ladies and gentlemen, from day one, last year, I worked intensely to further world-class internal governance and organizational culture. And indeed, in the past 22 months, FAO underwent the deepest transformative action since its creation. We established a modular, flexible structure that allows for the optimal cross-section collaboration. This answers our members' priorities to respond best to the emerging needs. Our offices now play the vector cross-cutting function, our divisions house FAO expertise and provide support. The air is stronger and the coordinated focus of FAO on the SDGs. The new office for small island development states sees early disease, early disease ensures that the special need for vulnerable populations and the countries are made. Office of sustainable development goals coordinate the cooperative engagement in the 2030 Agenda follow-up and review. The Office of Emergency Resilience, OER, provides support for strengthening emergency and resilient aspects. The Office of Climate Change and Biodiversity Environment support members' response to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the environment accreditation. I established the first-ever post of the chief economist at FAO, pushing among other priority big data, geospatial analysis, and digital innovation. FAO first-ever chief scientist is ensuring the robustness and the breadth and independence of scientific approaches in our work. The new Office for Innovation, Consolidate and Strengthen FAO Innovative Spirit. We strengthen the existing office and teams combining partnerships and FUN collaboration into one division, establishing new divisions for project support, for logistic services, and for food systems and for the food safety. We created a new post like the Stunna Law Office and the Obusmen. We put special focus on our centers and their strong collaborative function. We strengthen the FAO investment center and also the joint FAO WHO center and we strengthen our collaboration with the IAEA and the staff to join the FAO IAEA center. Our reform went even further by modernizing our methods of work and improving transparency like revoking our web presence and all our meetings and the interactions and the speeches are publicly available. I established the coal leadership team comprised of three deputy directors, chief scientists, chief economists, and the director of the cabinet. This dynamic team supported me in all areas of organizational mandate and amplifies the new collaborative approach of FAO. No more small kingdom we broke down the silos. We unbarred the various level of management and now the innovative first, the dual reporting system, ensure the transparency and the teamwork. This is the primary role A and secondary role B within the reporting line with the B role playing a complementary function and with mutual replicate support and the update. We focused on the creative health and productive work environment. Another first in FAO history was established women's and youth committees. They drive a career enrichment and engagement with the FAO and also as a platform for members engagement. They also play a very important role in the creative science of the togetherness and belonging in the past year, especially during the pandemic and difficult time. We build a big family value here. This is a new FAO that is welcoming you today. An organization three-dimensional transparency of the teamwork and new FAO with a flat accountable, cohesive structure that becomes more efficient by reducing exchange costs and minimizing bureaucracies. An agile, inclusive, innovative organization that is focused on better-saving its members and FAO that expanded collaboration with partners across the world, with globally recognized knowledge expertise and by being at the forefront of providing support and making a difference. This is the new FAO, strongly rooted in the 75 years of history, guided by the basic test and focused on its original mandate. Ladies and gentlemen, analyzing the changes and developing around us begs the question how can FAO become even more fit for purpose. I believe that has to be a dynamic organization which supports its members in the transformational change needed to achieve the STGs. An FAO that opens the door to the fascinating world of digit food and agriculture, because the future of agriculture needs to be built on science, innovation and digital application. Innovations in technology, policies, business models, and mindsets will be by people and for people. Digit application can produce significant gains in terms of increased efficiency, facilitate the good functioning of supply chains, and enhance sustainability. FAO needs to lead global efforts to make this future of agriculture systems a reality. In the last 22 months we have established a digital FAO that connected all employees and overcome distance and time zones. The organization have showed an extraordinary capacity to move to the new working modalities during the difficult times. The new web presents a reflective central role of our mandate and accessibility of a platform to members, farmers, consumers and partners. We are continuing to spearhead the holistic concept of digital organization within U.N. family being well ahead of the care. FAO needed to get our members on board with our flexible hand-in-hand initiative that is evidence-based and country-owned. The initiative is a gain of stress as a mechanism for bringing diverse actors together to have the least advantage of countries and people to eradicate poverty and hunger and malnutrition and reduce the inequality we see and among nations in this 39 members that have joined the initiative so far key support is provided to identify channel funding to the areas where the biggest economic opportunities can be unlocked. The initiative is a geospatial platform with big data analysis and advanced geospatial modeling has over 38,000 users from nearly all FAO members and we launched the 1000 digital magazine program. The program focuses on digital technology to improve production and agro business management and relate the marketing oriented and social services of agricultural processes with an E agricultural to improve productivity information and communication technologies, ICT and relevant digital solutions with a digital farmer service to enhance the farmers accessibility to social and economic services digital service of rural transformation to enhance the delivery of public services in health education, jobs, welfare equal tourism and agro tourism this approach brings all the digital elements needed to support agro food system transformation and rural development needed to achieve the SDGs ladies gentlemen to respond to the global challenges and opportunity to continue building our organizations that is feed for the papers we are proudly proposing the strategic framework plan 2022 to 2021 and the midterm plan 2022 to 2025 and the program of work and budget 2022 and 2023 and unprecedented impressive process has taken place to develop the strategy for work for nearly 18 months we have extensive inclusive transparent consultation with members and other key partners both formally and informally we back to this with an intensive internal process to join on the presence and deepest of effort knowledge and expertise and we launch a foresight if science is never further into the global challenges and opportunities top down and the bottom up approach the needs coming from members and the global mandates normative strengths were well embodied to allow effort to provide the maximum support in transforming ecosystem at the country level all three documents build on and complement the organizational structure and management changing already put in place to make the effort more modular flexible and agile organization we have presented the concise and clear strategy narrative on the 2030 agent through the transformation of more efficient, inclusive resilient and sustainable ecosystem for better production better nutrition a better environment and a better life for betters leaving no one behind all aspects are focused for the next period that I have been talking about since my manifest was contained in this narrative the SDGs, efficiency inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability overarching importance of ecosystem for betters and of course the focus on leaving no one behind the three dimensions of sustainable development, economic, social environment are reflecting the four betters and in the ecosystem approach for cross cutting accelerates of progress will be applied in all our programmatic interventions to maximize the efforts and facilitate the management of trade-offs according to national priority this accelerates technology, innovation data and complement governance human capital and institution the 20 program priority areas identify interdisciplinary issue best technical themes and represent the effort strategic contribution to the specific SDG targets they are framed around the four betters and by the themes where the effort has a comparable advantage of track record and ability to act in our major initiatives the program work at budget of 2022 to 2023 translate the strategic narratives into the annual program of work it has been developed around three core principles maintaining a flat nominal budget namely 1,000 5.6 million your dollars covering all increased cost without actually impacting the technical work and keeping the organization structure currently in place within the flat nominal budget resources are relocated to the high priority area include the new program priority areas the office of the inspect general and the multi-linguism you can see first time I present the slide in all six official languages Highland Ladies and gentlemen when everybody added a firewood the flammies of the bonfire rising high no member or organization can talk the global challenges in food and culture alone the strategy from work highlights if a role as a facility and the enabler of the change it encourages us to be more innovative and bold and open our mission is to build a transformative partnership that address a systematic change in a sustained manner the key is regional integration multi-lateral cooperation with FOM members being the drivers of change if we already play the major facilitating role but we aim to do more through our various initiatives and reinvigorated South South and Triangle cooperation multi-lateralism is the way to address the global challenge including the prevention of future pandemics FOM is an activity in scaling up joint UA activities on the ground formulating the collective UA assistance and allowing it with national priority highly appreciate all host countries our offices around the world who have kept our employees safe during the pandemic and here I especially thanks to the Italy government for providing vaccination within its national program to all U.N. colleagues and their dependents who were interested in FOM's engagement with the private sector is vital to strengthening accelerating support to its members we have launched a digital FOM connected port and a one stop shop for the private sector engagement and at a time we are establishing productive results with indigenous people civil society organization and parliamentarians producer organizations and cooperatives and academia and research institutions and we are energizing to scale up existing cooperation support our mission and the new strategy framework other ministries delegates strengthening the our FOM work at the country level has been at the focus of mine since the day one for the first time we started a comprehensive review of the country offices business model to rethink and change the way we work to achieve the great impact by introducing digital administrative processes improve the human resources management and strengthen the employment engagement the country office transformation aims to empowerment and streamlined processes. Across the globe, we see the democratization of FAO workplace with a great internal communication, teamwork and participation. We are fostering collaboration and break down the silos between the region, some region and the national offices and teams. We are creating multi-disciplinary technical groups to improve the quality, efficiency, and the effectiveness of technical assistance and coordination with the members. We strengthen the international internal control framework for field activities to the highest standards of accountability and transparency. We want our representative to stand shot to shot with the farmers and policymakers and to be trusted partners of national authorities. Ladies and gentlemen, since March of 2020, the situation has been unlike any other in the living memory. The pandemic is a powerful, weak call on the fragility and the short terms of our agri-force systems. It is also an opportunity to re-evaluate how we address the root causes of poverty, hunger and the inequities. A chance to build a resilience against the threat and to start anew. And more importantly, the pandemic reminded us of the fundamental importance of solidarity. We have seen the value and potential of a multilateral cooperation, the courage, the resilience of food heroes around the world. I'm proud that FAO was at the forefront of this battle to rise to the biggest challenge of our lives. We reinvented the way we work, communicate and deliver. We adapted our approaches to strengthen our partnership and sharpen our focus. We put the people underneath at the center of our work. We designed and provided game-changing solutions by combination of cutting-edge technology with expertise and the determination of our teams around the world. All this well done thanks to our lawyer, employees, my senior teams, and your trust with solid support. And we needed your consistent commitment together. And only together, we can turn the tide, achieve the sustainable and incredible future with zero hunger for all. You may manifest a lot that we are what we see. And that innovative thinking will lead us to a different journey. Just over 75 years ago, the thinking of our founding members started the path to eradicate poverty and nourish the world through the power of food and the culture. And I cherish this history that teaches us of the idea that was born at Alaya Food and a Cultural Conference in 1943 in Hot Springs, Virginia, USA. Of the organization that was established in 1945 in Quebec City, Canada by 42 nations. Of the FAO fundings, it's the first home in Washington DC before moving to Rome just 70 years ago. All the outstanding pioneer work done by the FAO over the last decades with both proud and humility that I'm carrying forward, that's a noble mission. We are ready to continue the hard work with you fully aware that the history is made by, recorded by, and evaluated by the people. I invite you dear brothers and sisters to work with us on a path that will lead a dynamic FAO for a better world, through better production, better nutrition, a better environment, so that all humankind can have a better life. Thank you. Over to you, Mr. Chair.