Blog

Oct 16, 2024

InfoPoint conference: World Food Day - Team Europe committed to support healthy diets and nutrition - European Commission

Food is an unavoidable issue in Europe and in our partner countries. Feeding a growing population with dwindling resources and numerous conflicts around the world is a huge challenge, not only for

Food is an unavoidable issue in Europe and in our partner countries. Feeding a growing population with dwindling resources and numerous conflicts around the world is a huge challenge, not only for public health, but also for political and economic stability. The economic costs associated with the negative effects of our global food systems are estimated to be well above USD 10 trillion a year with the lion’s share of this associated with unhealthy diets whether leading to undernutrition or overweight and obesity. The transformation of eating habits and the development of agribusiness are additional factors to be considered, offering both additional risks and opportunities.

In this infopoint organised with the EU Member States and the FAO, we propose to present key initiatives and commitments in the fight against food and nutritional insecurity. France will present the vision and objectives for the next N4G summit, to be held in Paris in March 2025.

Food and nutrition security is at the heart of priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in this second half of 2024. Dr Katalin Freier, President (CODEV-PI) of the Hungarian Permanent Representation, will present the unfolding Council Conclusions on food and nutrition security scheduled for December 2024, and Hungary's vision and key principles in this domain.

The European Commission, represented by Mr Leonard Mizzi and Helena Guarin, will then present the main findings of the eighth progress report of the EU Nutrition Action Plan that take stock of the EUR 2.5 billion EU financial commitments since the pledges made at the N4G Tokyo 2021 and the commitment taken in London to reduce the number of children affected by stunting of 7 million between 2012 and 2025. Examples will be shared on approaches adopted through the Global Gateway initiative and various EU tools to bring about the transformative changes needed to contribute to offer sustainably a healthy diet and improve the strategic autonomy of partner countries in their food and nutrition security. Netherland will present the results and lessons learnt from their Public-Private Partnership projects connecting agri-food production and nutrition. It will be then followed by a discussion led by FAO represented by Raschad Al Khafaji on their role together with other Rome-based agencies to support investments in nutrition-sensitive agriculture and healthy diet and the tools they developed to achieve it.

As host of the Olympic Games, France is also responsible for organising the next Nutrition For Growth (N4G) Summit. This event will take place in March 2025 in Paris and is supported by the EU in a Team Europe Approach. In particular, it aims to put nutrition at the centre of the sustainable development agenda and make the fight against all forms of malnutrition a universal cause. Mrs Louise Burdloff, form France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present the goals, scope of the N4G and the mains steps that will lead to the Summit.

Language: English

Q&A session languages: English and French

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