PERDANA MENTERI MALAYSIA
STATEMENT BY THE HON. DATO’ SRI ISMAIL SABRI YAAKOB
PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
AT THE 2021 FOOD SYSTEMS SUMMIT
23 SEPTEMBER 2021, NEW YORK
Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I join others in congratulating you, Mr. Secretary-General, for convening the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit.
INTRODUCTION
1. As we gather here today, we continue to face the impacts brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Learning to recover from its effects has certainly been difficult. It has made us re-think and re-evaluate the way we manage our national food systems.
3. Through various economic stimulus packages, Malaysia has allocated 240 million US dollar to our Food Security Fund.
STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT
4. As part of our commitment to sustainable food systems, Malaysia has engaged in multi-level national dialogues with key stakeholders. These dialogues have enhanced the development of a new policy direction through our National Agrofood Policy 2.0, which is in line with multiple dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
5. The new Agrofood Policy aspires to enhance national economic development; ensure competitiveness and sustainability; and is resistant to global economic shocks.
6. More importantly, we want to ensure that emphasis is given to smallholder farmers and food producers, as they account for about 75% of our agrofood industry players. To preserve their livelihoods, and improve their productivity, as well as to enhance the economy of scale, early this year, Malaysia introduced the smart land coalition, which brings together paddy field smallholders under a single management body.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
FOOD SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY
7. In order to strengthen food systems, Malaysia is concentrating on providing safe and sustainable food through appropriate food safety regulations and establishment of the Digital Food Safety Data Management, which connects the food industry with relevant authorities in real time.
8. Malaysia firmly believes that collaboration between agricultural stakeholders, industry leaders, policy makers and innovators create a crucial ecosystem to foster comprehensive transformation of food systems.
9. For these reasons, Malaysia welcomes foreign and private-sector investments to bring in innovation and better technology and resources into our food systems.
10. In addition, Malaysia’s commitment in ensuring food security for Malaysians as well as for the peoples of our region is firmly reflected in the ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework and Strategic Plan of Action on ASEAN Food Security as well as ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
CONCLUSION
11. The achievement of all the 17 SDGs relies on the successful transformation of the entire food systems. Malaysia is committed to work with all other UN member states and looks forward to engage in meaningful discussions during this Summit. Amid the uncertainties posed by the pandemic, I hope we will be able to guide all stakeholders in addressing better food systems pathways.
Thank you.