Accelerating transformation of agrifood systems

The Thirty-seventh Session of the Near East Regional Conference (NERC-37) will take place in February and March 2024, commencing with the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in February 2024 and followed by the Ministerial meeting in March 2024.

Preparations for the Regional Conference will comprise the convening of a Regional Consultative Technical Meeting (RCTM) in October 2023, which will be conducted in virtual modality. The meeting will be held under the theme “Accelerating transformation of agrifood systems”.

In the context of poly-crises the NENA region is facing, it is imperative to transform the agrifood systems to make these more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. This has been recognized and covered in the previous two Regional Conference (NERC-35 and 36). However, the progress in the past few years had been hampered inter alia by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Recover and Restart actions that the NERC-36 recommended, are being implemented but there is a need to change the gears and hasten the agrifood systems transformation through the various accelerating actions, tools, policy plans and enabling platforms. This could be achieved through discussion and agreement upon a shared regional agenda.

In this regard, NERC-37 aims at endorsing and launching an effective Regional Agrifood Systems Transformation Roadmap (2024-2027). The Regional Roadmap would include the elements for accelerating the agrifood systems transformation (towards more inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable food systems) with clearly defined pathways and action plans engaging the member states and FAO.