CIP Plays Multiple Roles at APEC 16 Peru

APEC is a trade and economic development consortium whose members include  Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Korea; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States; and Vietnam. While Peru is this year’s official convention site, other events are taking place all month long in other member economies. (APEC Peru 2016’s Web site.)

CIP’s work overlaps many of APEC’s goals, CIP officials said.

Collectively, APEC’s member countries “have placed a particular emphasis on addressing issues of food security, hunger and vulnerability in their own populations in the challenging

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Pietro Turilli

global environment that is faced by economies on the Pacific basin,” noted Pietro Turilli, CIP’s director of resource mobilization.

Yet arguably “of even greater importance is the emphasis that APEC countries have placed on collaboration – be it at technical or political levels – to tackle the challenges of a global food system that is increasingly impacted by the effects of climate change,” Turilli added.

APEC’s Food Security Week, taking place now, offers a chance for officials from all APEC economies to discuss best practices for enhancing food security around the world.

In addition to the climate-change angle, CIP officials will be calling attention to potato and sweetpotato’s nutritional value as well as the crops’ criticality to local populations as a regional staple.

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Andre Devaux

Andre Devaux, CIP’s Latin American and Caribbean Leader, is giving a talk entitled “Food Systems Integrating Production, Value Chan and Nutritional Approaches” this week. It’s part of a larger focus at APEC known as Policy Partnership on Food Security.

Among Devaux’s key points: the role of research in further enhancing potato and sweetpotato’s nutritional profile; how these native crops can generate income for regional smallholder farmers and how the crops are taking hold in other global regions; and methods by which crop production can be ramped up, including an exploration of the roles of both female and male stakeholders in intensifying production.

APEC Peru 2016 is not only a chance for CIP to raise awareness of development challenges and possible ways to overcome them, says Turilli, but an opportunity to showcase host economy Peru and its unique role in bringing potato to the world.

After APEC concludes, we’ll share another post with more information about CIP’s participation during the event.

By Amy Rogers Nazarov

 

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