Informal Consultation for Europe and Central Asia 2023
Budapest (Hungary), 04/05/2023 - 05/05/2023
The Informal Consultation for Europe and Central Asia provides a platform on which the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and Members can interact, facilitating consultation on key issues in the region. The main purpose of the Informal Consultation in 2023 is defining the FAO priorities for the Europe and Central Asia Region for 2024-2025, which will be presented for endorsement at the 34th Regional Conference for Europe (ERC) in 2024. The Consultation aims at facilitating an exchange of views among all Members of the Europe and Central Asia region considering also the challenges from the multiple crisis the Region is facing.
The FAO programme in the Europe and Central Asia region for 2022-2023 is guided by the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031, the Medium Term Plan (MTP) 2022-25 and Programme of Work and Budget (PWB) 2022-2023, and the priority areas of the region for 2022-2023 endorsed by the 33rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe (May 2022).
Since the programming for 2022-2023 was undertaken, the Region has been influenced by a number of significant social, economic and environmental risks that have become further pronounced, requiring urgent action over the next several years, and likely beyond. After partially recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced contraction in 2021, the global economy and the economy in the Region has been experiencing a renewed slowdown in 2022 fuelled by a series of overlapping crises, including the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the exacerbation from the war in Ukraine, soaring food prices, overall inflation and tightening financial conditions in most regions.
Responding to the needs, FAO is also updating its Medium Term Plan 2022-25 and preparing the Programme of Work and Budget 2024-25, which will be presented to the Governing bodies in March 2023 and expected to be discussed at the FAO Conference in June 2023.
Related to the challenges and new trends for the Region, the Informal Consultation 2023 will focus on defining the priority areas and the Regional Initiatives for the 2024-2025 biennium, through an exchange of views among all Members of the European and Central Asia Region, in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The results of the Informal Consultation, the final approved MTP 2022-2025 and PWB 2024-2025, and the 43th Session of the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA) will form the basis for the revised priority areas for 2024-2025 to be then endorsed by the 34th ERC in 2024; as well as will guide the work planning in the region for the biennium 2024-2025.
Documents
- Session 2 - Update on FAO response to the multiple crises in the Region
- Session 3 - Key challenges and opportunities in the region that might affect the priority areas in the region, and should be addressed by the FAO work programme 2024-25
- Session 4.1 - Formulating effective policies, promoting innovation and digitalization, and facilitating rural livelihoods for smallholders, women and youth
- Session 4.2 - Food system transformation promoting nutrition-sensitive value chains and healthy diets through the alignment of trade, food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary policies, facilitating One Health
- Session 4.3 - Promoting sustainable natural resources management and facilitating resilience in agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors, including mitigating and adapting to climate change
- Session 4.4 - Addressing food insecurity and reducing all forms of malnutrition
- Session 5 - Regional Technical Commissions’ contribution to the regional priorities
- Session 6 - Draft Agenda for the Forty-third Session of the European Commission on Agriculture
- Session 6 – Draft provisional annotated agenda for the 34th Session of ERC