A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan has joined 193 others from member nations of t he UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at the ongoing 39 th session of the FAO Conference in Rome, Italy.

Opened on June 6, the week-long event has the theme “Breaking the cycle of rural poverty and hunger by strengthening rural resilience: Social protection and sustainable agricultural development”.

In his opening speech, Italian President Sergio Mattarella stressed that issues such as climate change, natural resource limits and food and energy insecurity have cross-border consequences.

These will require policy makers to adopt a basic rights-based approach at key summits on development finance, greenhouse gas emissions and the UN new goals later this year, he added.

In an interview with a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Rome, Deputy Minister Tuan affirmed that Vietnam will be responsibly involved in poverty reduction programmes initiated by FAO and that the country is willing to share its experience with international friends in the field.

He noted that the meeting showed the strong determination of FAO and its member nations to promote poverty elimination.

A biennial event, the meeting reviews the implementation of the UN millennium development goals (MDGs), while focusing on FAO’s future development plans and its budget for activities in the next two years.

This year’s talks concentrated on issues related to global food security, agriculture and the food market, as well as the implementation of MDGs and the FAO’s organisational structure.

During the session, FAO also honoured countries that have reached their MDGs and had good achievements in poverty reduction, including Vietnam.

Jose Graziano da Silva from Brazil was re-elected as the Director-General of FAO for the 2015-2019 tenure.-VNA