Thank you Chair,

My name is Máximo Torero, I am the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to introduce two reports of the Secretary-General, prepared pursuant to resolutions 79/225 and 79/227. The reports were prepared by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) with technical support of FAO, in close collaboration with the UN system.

The first report focuses on Eradicating Rural Poverty to Implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite global efforts, poverty remains deeply entrenched in rural areas, disproportionately affecting children and youth, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2023, over 800 million people lived in extreme poverty according to the World Bank, three-quarters of them in rural areas.

This report highlights the multidimensional nature of rural poverty, encompassing not only income deprivation but also limited access to education, healthcare, nutrition, infrastructure, and social protection. Land and water insecurity, including land inequality, also continue to undermine poverty reduction efforts, underscoring the urgent need for inclusive rural transformation.

The central message is clear: rural youth must be recognized as agents of change. Today, 46% of the world's youth live in rural areas, yet they face higher unemployment, informality, and working poverty. Young women, Indigenous youth, and persons with disabilities are especially vulnerable.

The report calls for targeted, youth-inclusive policies that:

• First, create decent rural employment, both on and off the farm, with a focus on agrifood systems as a key source of livelihoods for rural youth;

• Second, promote safe and fair youth mobility by expanding access to skills training, secure migration pathways, and labour protections in both origin and destination areas;

• Third, expand access to quality of education and vocational training, including digital skills;

• Fourth, improve access to land, finance, infrastructure and markets, with specific attention to the needs and constraints of young women;

• Fifth, strengthen social protection systems, which remain limited in rural areas of low-income countries;

• Sixth, empower youth through participating in decision-making, including support for youth-led organizations and inclusive governance mechanisms;

• And finally empower rural women by addressing unpaid care work, eliminating gender-based discrimination and violence, ensuring equitable access to resources and services, and amplifying their leadership and voices.

Excellencies,

the eradication of rural poverty is not only a moral imperative-but drives it is for Sustainable Development for all. This report offers a roadmap for resilient, inclusive, and youth-centered rural development.

Let me know move to the second report. The Secretary-General's report on Agriculture Development, Food Security and Nutrition, focusing this year on the role of international trade in ensuring food security and nutrition.

In 2024, as reported by the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2025, 673 million people faced chronic undernourishment, which is a very high number, although there has been an improvement of the prevalence from 8.5 percent in 2021 to 8.2 percent in 2024. While recent data show a slight global decline in hunger and food insecurity, as I mentioned still 2.3 billion people face moderate or severe food insecurity, this means under or overnutrition. These figures underscore the urgency of transformation and transformative action. Moreover, we know that 2.6 billion people don't have access to healthy diets.

The situation, of course, varies across regions: Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) remain far above global averages for malnourishment and food insecurity.

The report emphasizes that trade connects the agrifood systems of countries. It can either promote or hinder progress on realization of sustainable development, directly impacting people, economic and livelihoods. But for sure, trade will help to increase resilience because it will allow countries and households to be able to have access to foods that are not produced locally or because of shocks, of climate, conflicts, or macroeconomics, they cannot be produced close to them.

It also underlines that global agrifood trade has grown denser and more diversified, with low- and middle-income countries emerging as new hubs alongside traditional players. This interconnectedness enhances resilience but also transmits shocks, requiring coordination of policies and transparent markets.

The report highlights that transparent, predictable, and rules-based agrifood trade is essential for achieving Zero Hunger. Trade can improve food availability, affordability, and stability -- especially for low-income and food-import-dependent countries. However, persistent structural barriers continue to limit equitable participation, particularly for smallholder farmers, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.

Urgent coordination and coordinated, sustained and adequate measures and actions are needed to leverage international trade as an important enabler of sustainable development and resilience and mitigate the impacts of converging global crises.

The report calls for building resilience through scaling up investments in innovation, digital infrastructure and capacity development, and strengthening market transparency to improve inclusiveness - especially for smallholders, Small and Medium Enterprises and other vulnerable groups-while strengthening the buffer capacity of markets to absorb shocks and reducing the risks of extreme volatility.

It also calls for policy coherence across trade, nutrition, public health and environmental domains, with regulations such as food labeling, standards, and taxation encouraging healthier diets and food choices, and for repurposing agricultural subsidies.

We know today, as I mentioned before, that 2.6 billion people do not have access to healthy diets. We also know that we are operating in systems, in agrifood systems, that have interlinkages with nutrition, with health, and with sustainability. We do not only want food for today but also food for tomorrow and therefore we need to use our resources in a more efficient and effective way.

Clearly, we can use the existing resources, being used by the governments to support agriculture, and repurpose them to be able to optimize their use towards improving access to healthy diets.

Equitable and inclusive agrifood systems governance is key to increase ownership, accountability and scale results.

I invite the Committee to consider the report's findings and recommendations as it deliberates on the resolution. Thank you very much for your time and I really hope that you have an excellent deliberation today.