Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

FAO's Elwaer Affirms Importance of Private Sector Role In Promoting SDGs


Fri 24 Jun 2022 | 03:11 PM
Ahmed Emam

The Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Director Representative in the Near East and North Africa Abdel Hakim Elwaer affirmed the significance of the full participation of the private sector in the developing process.

Speaking to Egypt's media, the high-ranking official noted, "As there is a funding gap of some $2.5 trillion USD per year and with only $2.2 billion (About 10% of the needed financing) that comes mainly from World Bank (WB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the global bodies and the international community needs to mobilize significant additional funding from the private sector in order to achieve the SDGs."

"Resolving global food crises and climate change which increases the hunger across the world will not be possible without the full participation of the private sector," he pointed out.

"In response, we have recently made a new partnership with one of the leading processors of dairy cheese and other food products in the world to accelerate achieving SDGs goals and FAO objectives as well," ELwaer revealed.

He continued: "This new partnership aims at raising nutritional knowledge and promoting healthy and responsible habits among children in Egypt."

In many countries in the Arab region, the food security situation, as well as humanitarian and economic crises, have a negative impact on access to healthy food, pursuing power, and dietary patterns. It also has a negative impact on the nutritional status of the most vulnerable groups, such as children, adolescents, girls, and women, the senior official explained.

"The private sector will have to play a major role in funding the initiatives that aim to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives in line with our commitment to ensure that no one will be left behind," said Elwaer.

It's worth mentioning that the recent FAO's partnership with the private sector calls for the creation and implementation of a digital educational campaign on healthy and responsible nutrition among children throughout Egypt.