Media briefing on Thursday 7 April at 13h45 & Live Webcasts

 

31/3/16 - Population growth and increasing prosperity are driving and changing global demand for agricultural products, while other challenges, like climate change and increased competition for limited natural resources like land and water, loom on the horizon. 

 

Against this background, Ministers of Agriculture from OECD countries and partner economies worldwide will meet in Paris on 7-8 April 2016, to discuss Better Policies to Achieve a Productive, Sustainable and Resilient Global Food System. The meeting, to be co-chaired by Stéphane Le Foll, Minister of Agriculture, Agrifood, and Forestry of France, and Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture, will explore the new policies needed to achieve widely shared interests and will offer the opportunity for ministers to discuss  how to ensure that existing policies shift in these directions more quickly.

 

Agriculture Ministers last met at the OECD in February 2010, in the midst of volatile world food markets. Six years later, Ministers will assess whether the policies that governments are pursuing are well targeted to address emerging issues and public priorities. The ministerial meeting will:

• allow for the exchange of ideas about the policies which would best allow the agricultural sector to respond to future opportunities and challenges, and how to best manage the transition to a new policy framework;
• cover the entire food chain, with a strong focus on the knowledge and innovation systems needed to achieve sustainable productivity growth;
• discuss how to strengthen global collaboration, including through trade, science and technology and education and advisory services; and
• reflect on how the food system can contribute to the overall performance of  economies, and on how policy settings can be more conducive to achieving sustainable productivity growth in the global food system.

 

Further information, including the agenda and the list of participants, is available on the conference website.

 

A Dialogue with the Press on the Future of Agriculture and Food will be held with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, Minister Le Foll and Secretary Vilsack on Thursday, 7 April, at 13:45. This session will be webcast at: http://video.oecd.org.

 

The closing session of the Ministerial Meeting, on Friday, 8 April, at 14:30 CET will be open to the Press and also transmitted via live webcast. During this session, the Co-Chairs will present the Ministerial Declaration and the Co-Chairs' Summary outlining the main outcomes of the meeting. Both documents will then be published on the OECD website the same day.

 

Journalists can register attendance by contacting Caroline Tourrier. For more information, you can also contact Lawrence Speer from the OECD Media Division (+33 1 4524 9700).

 

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.