 Chairperson, Director-General of FAO, Excellencies Distinguished Delegates. Firstly, let me offer my congratulations to Mr. Q. Dongyu for his appointment as the new Director-General for FAO, and wishing him well in the tenure as the head of FAO. Secondly, let me also congratulate Honorable Lin Po, Yesi Ponzor, Minister for Agricultural and Forestry of Bhutan, who are swimming in the chair of the 35th session of the APRC conference. Let me also thank the Government of Bhutan and FAO for the excellent organization and arrangement of this virtual conference. Agricultural sector alone supports about 85% of the population, mainly in rural areas. The important role of agriculture in P&G renders agriculture a top priority in Papua Guinea, national development policies such as the Vision 2050 and P&G Strategic Development Plan 2010-2030. Agricultural sector will play a pivotal role in contributing to the achievement of the goals set by these two higher national development plans. Due to the paramount importance of food security to Papua Guinea, the country has formulated a specific dedicated national food security policy 2017-2027. The vision of the policy is for all Papua Virginians to be food secure principally from locally produced food and lead healthy, active and productive lives. The policy will also contribute to its global efforts to end hunger and eliminate all forms of malnutrition. High level poverty of about 39% is prevalent in rural areas and limits food availability and accessibility. It is the 85% of the population in rural areas that depends on agricultural sector are also highly vulnerable and in trap in poverty. Although poverty level has declined by 26.7%, which is from 53.2% to 39% from 1996 to 2017, it is expected to worsen under the COVID-19 pandemic and the people that will be worse affected are the 85% of the population living in the rural areas of Papua Guinea. The agricultural approach to improve protein consumption involves farming diversification by integrating protein rich food into the farming system, mainly through livestock and aquaculture farming and cultivation of nutrient rich food crops. Drought tolerant food crops varieties and small scale irrigation technologies are available in Papua Guinea. Papua Guinea is a net importer of food and relies heavily on food imports to complement its local food production. Papua Guinea imports huge quantities of food from abroad to meet its domestic food requirements worth more than US$280 million per year. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new challenge and paradigm shift to agricultural and food security. The 45-year partnership between Papua Guinea and FAO was strengthened with the opening of a country office in 2013. Over the course of those years, FAO has supported Papua Guinea through the implementation of over 100-plus technical cooperation programs worth an estimate of US$50 million. This year alone, FAO is