From 28 to 30 September, the CIHEAM’s Cosimo Lacirignola Campus in Bari, southern Italy, will host the third world conference on the Revitalisation of the Mediterranean Diet. The title of the conference is “Change of Route Towards More Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in the Mediterranean Countries: the Mediterranean Diet as a Strategic Resource for Accelerating the Agenda 2030 in the Region”.
CIHEAM Bari is a Centre for post-graduate training, applied scientific research, and the design of in-loco partnerships within the framework of international research and cooperation programs. Focusing on Training, Research, and Cooperation, CIHEAM Bari fosters the spirit of international cooperation in agriculture in support of Mediterranean countries.
Recognizing the Mediterranean Diet as a sustainable food model, improving the sustainability of food systems, halting malnutrition and ecosystem degradation, countering climate change, and halting the collapse of biodiversity in the Mediterranean region are some of the issues that the conference will address.
Over 200 international experts and stakeholders will convene for three days, across twenty-one thematic sessions, to call for a change of route toward Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean Region and accelerate the 2030 Agenda.
In line with the Call to Action of the G20 Matera Declaration, this initiative aims to promote more resilient food systems, with the Mediterranean diet acting as a Sustainable Consumption and Production lever, following the One-Health holistic approach.
The meeting will be opened on 28 September, at 9. 30, by Maurizio Raeli, director of CIHEAM Bari; Stefano Bronzini, rector of the University of Bari Aldo Moro; Angelo Riccaboni, president of PRIMA Foundation; Paolo De Castro, coordinator of the European Parliamentary Alliance Against Hunger; Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture of the European Commission; Placido Plaza, Secretary-General of CIHEAM; Nasser Kamel, Secretary-General of UfM; Maurizio Martina, Deputy Director-General of FAO; Antonio Decaro, Mayor of Bari; Michele Emiliano, President of Puglia Region.
Mohammed Sadiki, Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forestry, and President of CIHEAM’s Governing Board, and Mahmoud Elies Hamza, Tunisia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, will deliver the closing remarks of the opening session. Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, is also expected to attend.
The conference will end on 30 September. This event, scheduled to coincide with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, is organized by CIHEAM in Bari under the auspices of the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Food, Ecological Transition, as well as the Union for the Mediterranean, the Puglia Region and the Municipality of Bari, with the technical support of FAO.
