Statement by the EU HoD at the IFAD Governing Council, high level dialogue with Governors on 14 February 2023.
Dear Mr. Chairperson, Excellencies, colleagues,
It is an honour to be present at the 46th Governing Council of IFAD. While not an IFAD member, the European Union is the Fund’s most important non-member partner. We are strongly committed to IFAD’s work improving livelihoods of small-scale farmers and towards resilient, sustainable agriculture and food systems.
We are further increasing our cooperation with IFAD. Our total cumulative grant portfolio – including the pipeline under negotiation - will soon exceed EUR 800 million. Moreover, the European Investment Bank has recently provided a first EUR 500 million loan to IFAD.
We welcome this Governing Council’s theme “Accelerating action for food security” and the launch of IFAD13 consultations. We hope the new replenishment will be as focused on transformative long-term solutions as the previous one, with the aim of reaching the SDGs.
We believe long-term investments into resilience-building and climate change adaptation are important elements to respond to the deteriorating global food security situation. Considering quick fixes as short-term responses should not distract the focus on efforts for long-term sustainable solutions and food systems transformations. Climate change will remain one of the most important triggers for instability and food insecurity with severe impact on farmers’ resilience and together with unsustainable agricultural practices, it contributes to biodiversity loss.
The EU investments in IFAD are framed by the IFAD-EU strategic dialogue of 2022 with three priority themes:
(1) Innovative finance for inclusive agrifood systems,
(2) conducive conditions for innovation and youth employment,
(3) climate change, resilience, carbon sequestration and smallholders.
Our latest cooperation programmes with IFAD are part of the EU’s response to the food crisis and focus on investments into healthy soils, biodiversity and nature-based solutions, such as agroecology.
The EU remains eager to further support IFAD’s activities and strongly advocates a continuous focus on transformative actions that address the sustainability of food systems and incentives for the farming generation of tomorrow.
I wish you a good continuation of the work of the Governing Council and a fruitful launch of the IFAD13 consultations in the coming days.