At the United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit held in Rome, Italy on 26-28 July, 2021, Speaking on behalf of the Honorable Prime Minister of Fiji , Dr Mahendra Reddy, Minister of Agriculture, Waterways and Environment said that Fiji was privileged to be part of the Pre-Summit as Fiji is committed to the 100 percent sustainable management of the coastal watersheds, reefs, and high seas that fall within our EEZ, with 30% declared as marine protected areas, because we believe that blue foods –– when sustainably managed –– can be a game-changer for us and for the world.

The Pre Summit is a pre-cusor to the Global Food Systems Summit to be held in New York in September this year. The hybrid meeting, attended by over 130 countries, ended yesterday.

In closing, the United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed stated that "It's been a summit for everyone, it’s been a summit for everyone, everywhere – we have seen people outside of this room come on the screen, and it has been a people’s summit with solutions. Anything we do, we know that we must include those at the center of our food systems.  And we have heard them: our smallholder farmers, our indigenous people, our youth, our women'.

She added that after listening to our youth, we must underscore the need to co-create the future of food with their leaders, with their representation, building a vision of a more dynamic and massive food future.  

 Fiji in its preparation to the Global Food Summit has organized national dialogues covering five action tracks that capture accessibility to safe and nutritious food, transition to sustainable consumption patterns, nature positive production, advancement to equitable livelihood and how to build resilience to vulnerability and shocks. In addition, a second round of Dialogues based on the main issues highlighted during these Action Tracks discussions were held recently. This National process has enabled multi stakeholder’s engagement and identified the necessary elements that will transform Fiji’s food systems towards the achievement of the 2030 agenda.

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