Veneman Leads Food Summit Delegation

June 7, 2002

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman will lead the U.S. delegation to the World Food Summit: Five Years Later in Rome, Italy, next week. The summit was called by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to review progress in achieving the goal set at the 1996 World Food Summit of cutting by half the number of hungry people in the world by 2015. It will be held Monday through Thursday.

"The U.S. message to the world is that we continue to be deeply committed to the goals of the 1996 World Food Summit," said Veneman. "To ensure that those goals are met, the United States proposes to focus on increasing agricultural productivity, ending famine and improving nutrition. These goals can be achieved by all countries working together." Veneman said that the United States is the world's largest donor of food aid and a major donor of all assistance resources. In addition, the United States funds a wide range of initiatives in agricultural development, health, technology, research, debt relief and school feeding programs.

As the representative for President George W. Bush, Veneman will make the U.S. presentation at the plenary session, which includes more than 180 delegations from around the world.

The 1996 World Food Summit was convened to renew a commitment to end hunger made 22 years earlier at the World Food Conference. The World Food Summit: Five Years Later was called to step up the fight against hunger and chronic undernourishment.