Mr He Changchui, Assistant Director-General, FAO Regional Office, Mr Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, UNESCAP, and Mr John Y.L. Yee, Principal Sector Economist, ADB, made closing remarks.
They pointed out that the discussions and the deliberations in this Roundtable rightly concluded that for certain aspects of food security, poverty eradication and the promotion of agricultural and rural development, regional collaboration can provide a critical and indispensable contribution and that the Regional Economic Organizations (REOs) have a significant role to play in this regard.
Such a development is helped by strong political commitment to policy harmonization among the REO’s, which is critical to fostering economic growth, employment and the income earning capacities of the poor and thereby increasing their access to food. Continued reduction of trade barriers to intraregional trade, the establishment of common phytosanitary regulations and common standards, the harmonization of tariff nomenclature, customs valuations and customs procedures and so forth are still necessary if we are to achieve the MDGs.
They expressed the strong belief that this Regional High-level Roundtable on Spearheading Subregional Programmes for Eradication of Poverty and Food Security in Asia and the Pacific has helped in clarifying the roles of regional and subregional collaboration in addressing poverty and food insecurity and in promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development. In particular, the important declaration adopted provides clear guidelines and strong encouragement to regional organizations to continue and further intensify their efforts in the fight against poverty and food insecurity to attain the WFS and Millennium Development Goals, to which we all subscribe.
