The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA), is spearheading the conversation that will ensure that African countries speak in one voice at the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS)
UNFSS will be convened by the UN Secretary-General on September 23 in New York to expedite achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through game-changing solutions to address food insecurity and build resilience to vulnerabilities and shocks.
Vera Songwe, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary said the Summit will focus the discussions on game-changing solutions to transform food systems across the globe in order to achieve all the 17 SDGs of Agenda 2030.
“In the African context, food systems transformation will help the continent to also achieve all the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063,” said Songwe.
ECA has worked closely with AUC and AUDA between March and July 2021 to further refine Africa’s common position for the UNFSS and has helped to define the process that has led to the endorsement of Africa’s common position at an extraordinary session of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.
Africa’s common position builds on the outcomes of the Regional Dialogue on African Food Systems, which was organized by ECA, in close partnership with some of Africa’s major partners and stakeholders in agriculture and food systems. The event, convened within the auspices of the 7th Africa Regional Forum for Sustainable Development, featured high-level technical and policy sessions and was successful in identifying needs, drivers and game-changers for accelerating African food systems transformation. Feedback and inputs were garnered to revise the background document for the Regional Dialogue.
