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Taiwan's Efforts and Contribution to Food Security in the Asia-Pacific Region Praised by Member Economies as the Fourth APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting Concluded Successfully

2016-09-29

   The Council of Agriculture (COA) stated on September 29 that the Fourth APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting took place in Piura, Peru from September 26 to 27, and came to a successful conclusion. During the meeting the Piura Declaration on APEC Food Security was passed. All ministers valued Taiwan's accomplishments on promoting the APEC food loss reduction multi-year project, and wrote it into the 52nd paragraph of the declaration expecting all members to jointly and continuously promote the project. Taiwanese Delegation Leader COA Minister Tsao Chi-hung stated that Taiwan would continue to advocate the APEC Food Security Action Plan in the future and make specific contribution to food security in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Piura Declaration on APEC Food Security draws the blueprint for regional food security cooperation and framework

  The COA stated that food security is critical to human survival. The overall situation is worsened by population growth, urbanization, insufficient agricultural investment, and climate change. During the Fourth APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting, the Ministers discussed the solutions to tackle food security challenges in the region, and announced the Piura Declaration on APEC Food Security, which includes 6 key topics that are essential for designing strategic countermeasures to food security in the region: “Regional food market and trade”; “Sustainability for a Resilient Food System”; “Innovation and Technology”; “Rural-Urban Development”; “Infrastructure, Investment and Services for Food Security” and “Toward an APEC Food System 2020”. Ministers called for the implementation of APEC Food Security Action Plan. Through APEC regional collaboration, public-private sectors cooperation, it could be strengthened to ensure regional food security for the sake of Asia-Pacific wellbeing.

Member Economies praised Taiwan’s effort in promoting Regional Food Security Action Plan

  Minister Tsao stressed that public-private partnership is an innovative solution to the enduring food security problem. He proceeded to explain the results of implementing the multi-year project Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses in the Supply Chain proposed by Taiwan. The project is the first multi-year agricultural project ever approved by APEC, and it makes concrete contributions to regional food security by holding capacity building workshop, developing a consolidated methodology of food losses assessment, establishing a toolkit and dataset website on reducing food losses, enhancing information sharing and exchange among APEC members, and establishing cooperation benchmarks among public-private organizations and member economies. The accomplishment was written into the 52nd paragraph of the Piura Declaration on APEC Food Security in recognition of Taiwan's contribution in promoting APEC reducing Food Losses Multi-Year Project which ensured regional food security. Moreover, Minister Tsao also shared Taiwan’s recent experiences in implementing relevant measures and policies such as the improvement of food security and agricultural productivity, expansion of agricultural investment, reduction of food loss and cost in the supply chain, agricultural innovation and production in response to climate change, and sustainable agricultural development. He also called for APEC economies to join forces in promoting the development and cooperation of regional agriculture technology, foster convenient and friendly environment for trade and investment, and take consumers' food safety and sustainable agricultural ecology into consideration. He asked all members to implement the APEC Food Security Action Plan in order to ensure food security in the region and create a new era for Asia Pacific.

Promoting agricultural cooperation exchange and expand agricultural diplomatic relations

  The COA pointed out that Minister Tsao also took the opportunity of participating in APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting to conduct bilateral meetings with APEC economies food security Ministers or representatives. They exchanged ideas on APEC regional cooperation projects and important agricultural issues, thus enhancing Taiwan's agricultural collaboration and interaction with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, creating win-win situation for all.

Fourth APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security

COA Minister Tsao Chi-hung