Twenty-nine years ago today, on November 13, 1996 (October 3, 1996 lunar calendar), the World Food Summit opened. On November 13, 1996, the five-day World Food Summit opened in Rome, the capital of Italy. Heads of state, government or their representatives from more than 170 countries gathered in the ancient capital to discuss global food security strategies. This is the first world summit on food issues in history. President of the Italian Republic Scarfarro, UN Secretary-General Galli, and FAO Director-General Diouf attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches successively. In his speech, Galli pointed out that the problem of hunger is not only a production problem, but also a distribution problem. He called on this summit to make practical efforts to solve this problem. In his speech, Director-General Diouf pointed out that the current world food security situation is severe. He stressed that to solve the problem of food security, the key lies at the national level, and FAO will cooperate with member states to jointly complete this ambitious task. According to the communique issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are still 800 million people in the world who suffer from hunger, 250 million children are chronically malnourished, and the problem of food security has increasingly become a serious global problem. The World Food Summit aims to seek the joint efforts of governments around the world to take positive actions to improve the world food security situation. Premier Li Peng of the State Council attended the summit and delivered an important speech. The first meeting of the World Food Summit officially adopted the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Action Plan on the morning of November 13. " The Rome Declaration on World Food Security expresses the concern of governments for world food security and their determination to solve the food problem, reaffirming the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger and to have adequate food. The declaration analyzes the dire situation of world food security, noting that poverty is an important source of food insecurity and that sustainable progress in eradicating poverty is the key to increasing access to food. The declaration states that a peaceful, stable and conducive political, social and economic environment is the necessary foundation to enable countries to give full attention to food security and poverty eradication, stressing that "food should not be used as an instrument of political and economic pressure," reaffirming the importance of international cooperation and solidarity, and stating that "unilateral measures that violate international law and the UN Charter and endanger food security must be stopped." The declaration calls on countries around the world to take immediate action to take responsibility for achieving food security for present and future generations. The World Food Summit Plan of Action is primarily the commitment made by the participating countries to achieve world food security. These commitments are: to ensure an enabling political, social and economic environment; to implement policies aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality; to promote a participatory and sustainable approach to development; to promote a fair and market-oriented world trading system; to prevent natural disasters and crises; to encourage optimal allocation and utilization of public and private investment; and to implement, monitor and follow up the Plan of Action. To achieve these commitments, the Plan of Action makes clear that each country must adopt a strategy commensurate with its resources and capabilities to achieve its respective goals, while engaging in regional and international cooperation and organizing collectively to address global food security issues. The Plan of Action also sets specific near-term goals: to halve the number of undernourished people by 2015 and to conduct a mid-term review to determine whether this goal can be achieved by 2015. Attached: Introduction to the World Food Summit The World Food Summit was held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996. The meeting was held in accordance with the resolutions of the 28th FAO Conference and the UN General Assembly in October and December 1995, respectively. It was the first time in more than 50 years that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations had organized the highest-level and largest conference dedicated to addressing food issues. Since the World Food Conference in 1974, despite considerable progress in agriculture and food production in various countries around the world, in terms of the overall situation on a global scale, agricultural production has not fully met the most basic food needs of the world's population, far from achieving the goal of eradicating hunger and improving nutrition. At present, the world is facing increasing pressure from population growth and food demand, and the world's food reserves are on the verge of crisis. In addition, the area of arable land is decreasing, the water source is insufficient and the ecological environment is deteriorating, and the development of agriculture is facing many problems. According to statistics, nearly 800 million people in the world are currently starving. Faced with this situation, in 1994, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Diouf, proposed to convene a World Food Summit as soon as possible on the basis of consulting the opinions of most countries and government leaders. At the 28th Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations held in October 1995, the representatives of the member states unanimously endorsed the convening of the World Food Summit and decided that the Committee on Food Security under FAO would serve as the preparatory body for the Summit. The 21st session of the Committee on Food Security of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, held in Rome from January 29 to February 2, 1996, kicked off the convening of the World Food Summit and formulated the framework for the main documents of the Summit. The 22nd session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Committee on Food Security held in September completed the consideration of the two documents to be approved and adopted by the Summit, the Rome Declaration and the Plan of Action. In October, the 111th session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations finally reviewed the agenda and arrangements for the summit. The main topic of the summit was to jointly review the world food situation, so as to raise the awareness and attention of countries and all social strata around the world to food issues, and on the basis of strengthening international cooperation, countries around the world should take immediate and concerted practical actions to ensure lasting global food security, so that human beings can have a lasting, stable, peaceful, adequate food and clothing environment. The total number of people attending the summit was about 5,000, including 500 official representatives and about 100 heads of state and government. Premier Li Peng of our country's State Council attended the summit.