Multilateral Cooperation
The Ministry represents the Slovak Republic in international government organisations and performs, within its area of competence, the functions of a government coordinator resulting from membership of such organisations; cooperating with other international government and non-government organisations within its area of competence.
In the field of agriculture, the Slovak Republic is a member of the following important international organizations:
- FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- WFP - World Food Program
- OECD - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)
The OECD is an intergovernmental economic organisation whose members recognise the values of democracy and the principles of market economy. The role of the OECD is to help its 37 member states to build a strong economy, increase their efficiency, and expand the liberalisation of international trade and contribute to maintaining stability. Primarily, it is a forum for discussion and the exchange of opinions on good and bad experience. The OECD has been dedicated to agricultural issues from the beginning. The Slovak Republic has been a member of the OECD since 2000. Slovak Republic’s OECD membership is coordinated by the MFEA SR. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic ensures the fulfilment of duties and representation in relation to Slovak Republic’s OECD membership in around 14 regular formats of OECD working bodies. In 2020, the Slovak Republic continued to actively participate in the activities of the OECD agricultural codes and schemes.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the biggest specialised organisation within the UN and the only professional organisation focused on food security and nutrition. The FAO functions as a knowledge base for the dissemination of information and knowledge. It supports countries in the development and implementation of normative measures, capacity building, gathers, analyses and monitors input data, simplifies political dialogue, supports the sharing of the results of expertise and experience, and provides a platform for negotiations among the nations of the world and the transfer of knowledge into practice. The main objective is to solve food security problems, especially the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in the world, to improve the provision of food and services in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in a sustainable way, to reduce poverty in rural areas, create more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, and to increase the resistance of the population to threats and crises. In all of its activities, it also pursues cross-cutting objectives: gender equality, management, nutrition and climate change. At present, it has 197 members consisting of member states, one member organisation (EU) and two associate members (Faeroe Islands, Tokelau).
Despite the pandemic, the FAO continued to focus on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentin 2020, which, given its expertise and resources, is well positioned to help countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs). In 2020, the FAO conducted the second comprehensive assessment of 22 indicators for monitoring the six SDGs (SDG 2, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15) for which the organization is responsible. The analysis was strengthened by an assessment of the progress in achieving the SDGs at national, regional and global levels. The analysis, which is based on the collection of data even before the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, concludes that the progress in achieving the food and agricultural goals is still not sufficient and the world is not on track to meet the goals by 2030. The analysis recommends that governments increase investment in agriculture (including fisheries and forestry), support small food producers, conserve plant and animal genetic resources and control food price volatility.
World Food Programme (WFP)
The WFP is the world’s largest international humanitarian organization fighting hunger and providing food aid in cases of emergency. The WFP also cooperates with local communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. In line with the commitment of the international community to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030, the WFP has focused its Strategic Plan on assisting in the fulfilment of SDG 2 (no hunger) and SDG 17 (support partnerships to achieve SDGs). The WFP helps more than 97 million people a year in 88 countries around the world, mainly those affected by conflicts. The WFP operates worldwide and in 2020 it helped countries facing urgent and extraordinary crises. The majority of WFP’s assistance went to Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to fight hunger, its contribution in improving conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and its effort to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. The Slovak Republic participated in the Annual Meeting of the WFP Executive Board, with Zora Weberová, Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the FAO and the WFP, representing it as an observer.
FOREST EUROPE
Bratislava 2021
The Eighth FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference was planned to be organized in October 2020 in Bratislava, Slovakia, and later it was postponed due to the pandemic of COVID 19. However, as the physical distancing regulations and constraints, related to the pandemic, were expected to continue to impact the work of the international community also through the first half of 2021, the Ministerial Conference was held in a virtual format on the dates 14 and 15 April 2021.
See more at: https://foresteurope.org/about/ministerial-conferences/bratislava/
The bilateral cooperation and international organizations section, in cooperation with national experts, coordinates the activities of the following international organizations:
- BI ECPGR - International Institute of Biodiversity – European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources
- EFI EUFORGEN - European Forest Genetic Resources Programme
- EPPO - European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
- EuFMD - European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease
- EUMUCF - EU Minor Uses Coordination Facility
- ISTA - International Seed Testing Association
- OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health
- OIV - International Organisation of Vine and Wine
- UNCCD - UN Convention to Combat Desertification
- UPOV - International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
- ZSC - Zonal Steering Committee for EU Central Zones
