 Your Excellency, Prime Minister of Haiti, Excellency, Vice President of El Salvador, Ecuador, Honorable Leaders and the Ministers of Nicaragua, Honorable Ministers for LACA, and Mr. Independent Chairperson of the FAO Council, distinguished delegates, representatives from the civil society, private sectors, parliamenters, and the academia. Ladies and gentlemen, Buenos dias! Estamoyer Flayser, the Conocero, Haiti. I'm very pleased to be with you at this 36th session of the FAO regional conference for Latin America and the Caribbean. Let me start by recognizing the government of the Republic of Nicaragua for the flexibility shown in the collaboration with the FAO Secretary to convene this first virtual regional conference for Latin America and the Caribbean in FAO history amid the ongoing global pandemic, extended by gratitude to the government and the people of the Republic of Nicaragua for hosting this conference. Latin America and the Caribbean has been affected disproportionately by the COVID-19 pandemic. My thoughts and solidarity are with all of the victims and the heroes fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, and I would like to pay tribute to the national authorities of all our members who have hosted FAO offices across the region and who have us ensure our employees' safety while they continue delivery on this difficult circumstance. I've seen that our countries adopted a slogan in this pandemic, the crisis will not stop. I pay tribute to the millions of farmers, entrepreneurs, food processors, workers, traders, and merchants who made sure that every single day food was available in every city, town, and villages, from the real Bravo to the Pandagonia. Ladies and gentlemen, hunger, elimination, poverty reduction, all the increase of food production do not happen at headquarters in Rome. What we can do in Rome is only useful if it is rooted in your specific conditions and priorities, and if it translates into concrete practical action and change in the field. This is the fundamental reason why FAO's constitution is essential when it comes to forming the strategic perspectives and measures of the FAO, since they allow us to satisfy our demands in a more strict way and to improve and accelerate the fulfillment of our mandate. This is your conference. It is the regional director's body and it must be useful to you. My colleagues and I are going to listen to your opinions and suggestions. We are very interested in hearing what you think about three important issues. First of all, about the priorities that the region wants to include in the new strategic framework of the FAO, which is currently being prepared. Second of all, about its expectations on the purchase of food systems from the United Nations that will have a place in 2021. And thirdly, about its priorities for the transformation of the food systems according to its own conditions that we have to have as a basis to act. This is a work that has a strong political commitment for the execution of the FAO, especially the ODS-2 and the ODS-1 in its countries. Ladies and gentlemen, you will have realized that there have been important changes throughout the previous process to the regional conference and as part of our agenda of transformative measures, we are going to create a dynamic FAO for a better world, a agile and inclusive FAO, which is at the service of its members, we are going to achieve four improvements, a better production, a better nutrition, a better environment and a better life. The council has supported this agenda of change that includes structural, programmatic and operational measures. We have adopted an unorganized and flexible model that propices the transsectorial collaboration and the contrast with the stagnant compartments. We gather around the table the three general directors together, the head economist, the scientific director and the cabinet director, who now form a collective management team. This team supports me in all the spheres of the organization's mandate, and they are a clear example of the new collaborative effort of the FAO. Among the different adjustments and efforts of reform, I am pleased to highlight the creation of an office dedicated to the small developing countries, the smaller, less advanced countries, the PMA, and also for the developing countries, the PDSL. And it is something very important, since the 18 of the 33 members of their region are part of one or more of these categories of countries that are now part of this office. And the office director also comes from his region, from Panama, in particular. I have also created an office for innovation and an office for climate change, biodiversity and the environment, which are two of the main priorities of the countries in this region and topics that will be debated without a doubt during this regional conference. We have also strengthened our investment center to improve the catalyzed effects with investment banks, private sector and others worldwide. And we have also created an office for the ODS to say that all of our work contributes to the continuation of the 2030 agenda, which is our common mark in sustainable development progress. These transformations and adjustments began in the SEDE and are now extending to all of the FAO offices, from regional offices to office offices in the world, since we are a FAO, no matter where we are, and that is why I am encouraged to see that the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean has been very proactive in promoting this agenda, transforming it in favor of a dynamic FAO. It is very encouraging to see how the region is ending with the shares and promoting a greater collaboration with the approval of a FAO program. And I am pleased to see that in the preparation of this regional conference, important consultations were held with our government societies, with the private sector, with the civil society, the scientists and with the academics, and also with the parliamentary fronts against hunger. Several thousand people participated in one way or another in that process that has culminated in this conference. And even today there are more than 320 participants and more than 2,500 people who are following this conference, with which it is a clear sample of our participatory focus, a clear sample of the new FAO that we want, a more transparent FAO, more open to the dialogue, open to work with others to be at their service, at the service of the members and do the best. Honorable colleagues, while the COVID-19 continues to solve the whole world, we are the poorest and the most vulnerable, the ones who have been most affected by the pandemic. It is, above all, a sanitary crisis, but its repercussions have affected all the spheres of our lives and, more in particular, food security and income. They have lost, in this region, more than 35 million jobs, and the United Nations consider that up to 28 million people could face extreme poverty, which means that it will also be more likely to suffer a serious poverty. In addition, the pandemic has added to existing crises such as conflicts, natural disasters, climate change, plagues and diseases. The communities and homes that live in poverty are now under a greater pressure, and this includes the majority of the rural population in this region. The FAO is the starting point of the efforts to face the challenges that this pandemic is facing, and recently we launched the FAO recovery response program, an initiative based on empirical, coordinated and integral data, whose goal is to prevent a global food emergency during the pandemic, but also after the pandemic, at the same time that the resilience and inclusiveness of future food systems and the means of life is strengthened. This program allows donors to take advantage of the power of the organization's call, their real-time data, early alert systems, technical expertise and direct support there and when it is more necessary. To face the multiple challenges of our era, including the COVID-19 pandemic, but not only, innovation and collaboration will be necessary between national and sub-national governments, the private sector, including the scientists, the NGO and many others. We will also have to promote data, innovation and technology, since they complement the governance of the human capital and the institutions so that transformation is inclusive. That is why we have introduced the FAO, the initiative Hand of the Hand. It is an initiative based on empirical data from which countries are being blessed, and whose goal is to accelerate the transformation of food systems and sustainable development in rural areas, with the aim of ending poverty and hunger and all forms of malnutrition, that is, the S1 and S2. It is actually a new business model to collaborate, which takes advantage of a wide range of associations and takes advantage of the capabilities of data and technology of the organization, and combines to determine which are the best options to reach the most vulnerable and also achieve the greatest repercussion possible when fighting poverty and hunger. Obviously, it is an initiative that is also linked to others, for example, to countries with medium income. And also, this initiative has very avant-garde tools. For example, the spatial platform of the initiative Hand of the Hand, which supports all those interesting parts with detailed and easy to share, at the same time that respects the confidentiality protocols of data. In addition, the platform also includes a sub-national system with information about donors, which has the laboratory of FAO and also its partners. Then we have the data laboratory in favor of statistical innovation, which combines non-conventional data sources, macro data, data science, text exploitation and methods of that type, and combines to improve the calendars and accuracy in the data take-up and impact evolution. And I am very pleased to say that many members are already participating in this initiative. To date, we have begun to put in practice this objective in 27 countries, six of which are in their region. It is really very encouraging to see that in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, there are five additional countries that have already adopted the hand-in-hand approach, as well as accelerating the achievement of the ODS-1 and 2 in their rural areas that are somewhat distorted. And that means that a third of the members of their region are already working based on the principles and tools of the Hand of the Hand initiative. It is a great progress in less than a year since we started the initiative. Dear colleagues and friends, Latin America and the Caribbean are responsible for 13% of world agricultural production. The food sector contributes in a total export of 26% and is a clear engine of economic growth and creation of jobs. The region is not only a pillar of global food security, but it also hosts a great encode of global biodiversity of forests, of water and productive soils. And it has also led important policies to eradicate poverty and achieve zero hunger in the region. This region will be the largest food canasta in the world in the near future. That is my conclusion, because you have everything. However, the region also faces important challenges, which we can only overcome if we work more commonly with ambition and pragmatism. I always like to say that you have to look at very ambitious goals and take concrete measures. We can have the objective of eradicating poverty, which today affects half of the rural population in its countries. We can have as an objective to have healthy diets available for all people in the region. In particular, for the 62 million people who, before the pandemic, were facing serious food insecurity and also millions more that are now in this situation because of this crisis. We could also set as an objective to avoid another epidemic, the epidemic of obesity, which affects health systems, economies, and the well-being of the half of the population in this region. We could also set as an objective to promote the innovation and digitalization of agriculture and food systems, thus increasing efficiency and productivity, especially among the small and medium-sized family farmers and rural entrepreneurs. We could set as an objective to create new opportunities for rural people taking advantage of the new demands of urban consumers, such as bi-economy, rural tourism, and also the supply of environmental services to cities. We can also set as an objective to increase the trade and access to markets for farmers and rural entrepreneurs through multilateral standards set in science. We could also set as an objective to transform 72,000 kilometers of areas close to the coast and also the vast oceans of this region into a source of sustainable blue growth, a new engine to transform its food systems at the same time that we guarantee that marine ecosystems and coasts will be preserved for future generations. We could set as an objective to improve food security, to prevent antimicrobial resistance and to contain pests and diseases that threaten important crops such as coffee, bananas, or cocoa, and to contain the plague that is affecting South America. We could also set as an objective to make this region's agriculture more sustainable, reducing its environmental footprint and its emissions of greenhouse gases, improving its use of hydropower resources, reducing deforestation, restoring soil and landscapes, and managing the risks, thus making agriculture more resilient and more sustainable. We could also try to take advantage of the knowledge and agricultural heritage of indigenous peoples to preserve the major tropical ecosystems of this region that are vital to the health of the whole planet, and to contain the plague that is affecting South America. All of this requires a package of concrete measures that are based on investment, policies designed to take into account regional development and innovation to have a complete, coherent, collaborative and integral effort. FAO is its trust partner that will support these efforts. Ladies and gentlemen, we meet at a very difficult time, but we also have new opportunities for us. You can look at the mirror of history and learn from the experience. Three days ago we celebrated the fifth anniversary of FAO. Like us today, the founding fathers of the 42 came from their region when FAO had its first meeting in Virginia. It was 19, as I said, of the 42. 19 of those 42 came from their region, and with which their region, Latin America and the Caribbean, had a long experience of multilateralism when it came to sharing the future of all humanity, of global humanity. Now we also face moments that pose great challenges, just like in 1945, when those founding fathers created the organization dedicated to the promotion of the common well-being of their members, as well as the constitution of the FAO. They try to inspire themselves, and they are strong. We focus on finding new ways to contribute to improving the situation of farmers, better rural systems and rural societies for the common well-being of Latin American peoples and also beyond that. The heroes of the food of farmers and producers passing through the merchants, the administrators, and many others help to bring food to our tables every day in all communities and however they want. And they can also be real heroes, real heroes at the time of creating a better world. It is our historic duty to support them and to give them the opportunity to meet our new mission together. Thank you very much. I will return to my word, Mr. President.