The Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies Luca Zaia speaking at the FAO Conference Opening Session, Thirty-fifth (Special) Session, held in Rome the 19 November, declared that today 850 million people are under-nourished and three million die every day for starvation. Italy will do its part but it is necessary to renew the sense of responsibility that must dictate the agenda for the future.

"It is necessary to focus on agricultural production once again to face the problem of world hunger. Today 850 million citizens are under-nourished and three million persons every day die of hunger. Italy will do its part but it is necessary to renew the sense of responsibility that must dictate the agenda for the future." These the words of the minister food, forest and agricultural policies Luca Zaia who the 19 November took part at the Fao Conference Opening Session, Thirty-fifth (Special) Session, held in Rome.

"It is a question of being coherent with what declared by Director-General Jacques Diouf, who recently remembered us that to feed the six billions people who populate the planet it is necessary to double the global agricultural production, Zaia explains, today I will be in Brussels, where by tomorrow an historical agreement will be closed, an agreement on agricultural production and the responsibilities that in this field every country will decide to take responsibility ".

"It is important to have a strong and competitive agriculture, able to answers needs and to do this we must support what I call the multinational of the peasants, the farmers and the agricultural enterprises; we must invest in the future; we must, as Vandana Shiva said, invest in the real bank that is the earth. A bank that conserve our identities, our stories".

"The increase of the prices of the agricultural products is provoking serious consequences in many Countries, a crisis that we must answer with a virtuous liberalism, made of rules shared and respected by all, Zaia continues, this means also not excluding the possibility of resorting to intelligent measures to protect local products, like the ‘duties’, and, contextually, to actions to boost the growth of agriculture in the underdeveloped nations".

"The problem of world hunger has not been defeated: for this reason our main objective must be, with the Fao, of ' not giving fish but to teach how to fish' , as Raul Follereau rightly said; not to create a culture of dependence, that today clears our consciences unloading the solution of the problem on the shoulders of our sons, but rather to stimulate the growth of an agricultural economy able to support the development of such countries".

"Italy is ready to give its contribution to face this emergency: in the program of the next Italian Presidency of the G8, in April 2009, there will be a summit of the Ministers of Agriculture on this topic, the Minister declared, and we will promote with the Fao and the other international organisations a G8 meeting opened to other important Countries of various continents, to the UN Organizations of the roman Pole and to the Wb".

The conference was focused on the immediate Action plan, elaborated by a special Committee for the Reform of the Fao: it is an organic reform plan aimed at rendering the governance of the Un agency more effective and to equip it with the necessary tools to face the new challenges of the international scenario.

"I have read with great attention the result of the immediate action plan for the reform of the Fao and I think that the analysis carried out and the suggestions made are a very good base: the reform of the administrative system, the change in the management culture and the organizational structure are necessary measures, that will give an important contribution to the improvement of the efficiency of the Organisation. For this, he continued, it is necessary to start soon with the plan also to answer to the request for change that come from the majority of the Countries members and from the citizens of all the world. The world needs the Fao for its irreplaceable role, but this important Agency of the United Nations must be have the tools that enable it to be an effective, concrete and strong organization ".

"We are aware that the hunger does not have and must not have flags and nationality, concludes the minister Zaia, but we want to do our part till the end and promote a stronger collaboration between all the countries involved".