GUARANTEE ACCESS TO FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 26, 2005 (VIS) - Made public today was the address delivered by Msgr. Renato Volante to the 33rd General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Msgr. Volante is the head of the Holy See delegation to the conference, which is being held at the organization's Rome headquarters from November 19 to 26.

  In his speech, which was delivered on November 22, the head of the Holy See delegation expressed his conviction that "food security remains the fruit of action inspired by a strong solidarity," not of action that is "limited to forms of assistance or to interventions that, despite being well organized, often fail to achieve their intended goals."

  Guaranteeing adequate food supplies, he went on, "is an essential component of that right to development intrinsic to each individual, people and nation, proclaimed by the international community but often overlooked, ... as the information presented to this conference shows."

  Msgr. Violante stressed that "guaranteeing access to agricultural and food resources, is an important way to eliminate poverty and, hence, to put planned strategies into effect."

  "It is the heartfelt wish of the Holy See delegation ... that support be given to the activities and practices of rural populations (in which the importance of the family cannot be overstressed). They constitute the basic economic foundation for most developing countries where monocultures and forest and marine resources represent an essential - and, unfortunately, at times unique - means of survival." In this context, Msgr. Volante called for the forthcoming conference on agrarian reform and rural development, due to be held in Brazil in March 2006, to "give 'voice' and support to those people who daily practice small-scale agriculture."

  The Holy See representative concluded his speech by referring to the "notable importance for the development of food and agriculture" of "questions concerning the trade in agricultural, forest and fisheries products."
DELSS/FOOD/FAO:VOLANTE                        VIS 20051128 (330)