NEWS

• ZAIA: GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FIRST G8 AGRICULTURE MINISTERS’MEETING

  

  “The summit has started. Our aim is to present to the G8 summit of the Heads of State and of Government a document that lists the measures that we think necessary to adopt in order to program the future of world agriculture. We have great expectations: we will work to transform them in reality”. 
  The Minister of food forest and agricultural policies Luca Zaia with these words opened the press conference to present the Summit of the Agriculture’s Ministers organized in view of the G8. At the summit there will be more than 482 journalists, “80% of which - the Minister explained - are foreign. This demonstrates that the eyes of the world are focused on the province of Treviso. The province,  thanks to the contribution of the local agencies that I thank, is ready to welcome the summit’s participants. A year ago I promised that my shoes will bear the traces of earth: in these months I have maintained my promise – Zaia added - today I confirm it by showing to the Ministers the local hills. All the expected delegations will attend the summit, thus confirming the value of the great diplomatic work done up to now”. 
  “These will be three days of hard work - the Minister explained - divided in plenary and bilateral sessions, the  former organized during the summit in order to optimize time and to give the possibility to all to address issues concerning the relationships between single States. Ten countries have already asked to have bilateral meeting with Italy, among which, for example, the Russian Federation, with which we will discuss about the protocols on pesticides in the import-export of fruit and vegetables, and the United States, necessary to discuss about export of meat and wines”. 
  The Minister has confirmed which will be the main topics to the center of the summit: food security, world hunger, the fight against waste and speculations, the opportunities offered by agriculture in defending the environment, the need to increase the agricultural production and to reward the farmers’ work. 
   
  
  

  “We will also try - Zaia said – to give an answer to the question that the Financial Times has today asked us: we will be up to the task entrusted to us? I am convinced that we are. We are all aware of the importance of this historical moment for the agriculture of the planet and we are convinced that concrete answers must be given to the 850 million people who suffer from hunger; that it is necessary to double the agricultural production in order to feed the 6 billion citizens of the world and we want to find and to propose effective solutions to the problem of the financial speculations. These are even more unacceptable when done on agricultural raw materials, therefore our source of nutriment. We will speak also about protecting typical products - he continued. We will speak about supporting the productive economic models able to sustain local productions and to preserve the agricultural heritage of each Country, a heritage of knowledge, histories and traditions that must not be lost and that must be the foundation of the long-lasting development of the agricultural economies. We will speak about water resources and how to conserve them for our children. Finally we will speak about cooperation and measures that guarantee a sustainable agriculture and equal opportunities for all”. 
  Answering the questions of the journalists, the Minister Zaia also presented his position on the GMO’s. “The scientific community is still carrying out a debate on this, he said, but we must remember that behind each seed there is a story that must be defended. We must also bear in mind that where OGM’s are cultivated the farmers have not had a higher income and that many GMO seeds are patents of the corporations. This is the reason why I agreed with the decision of the German Minister Iilse Aigner,  who banned the Mon810. Three citizens out of four are against the GMO: their choice must be respected. The quality and security of food products must be guaranteed for all. There are countries where the poorest members of the population buy GMO because they are cheaper, while organic food is only for the rich. Quality is not a luxury, it is a standard that must be guaranteed to all”.