Ecuador: Coordinating Board on Food Security and Rural Development continues supporting dissemination activities of Rural Development and Food Security topics

A Food Security National Forum to be held in Ecuador is being fully supported by the Coordinating Board on Food Security and Rural Development. The decision was taken during the Board's seventh meeting held in June, 2003.

This Forum is being promoted by the Special Program for Food Security in Ecuador (SFSPE) to disseminate as much as possible, information regarding the law on Food Security, to be debated by Congress in order to seek its approval. The debate among productive sectors regarding the law is now entering its final phase.

The coordinating board widely acknowledged the First National Forum of State Policies for Rural Development organized by the Ministries of Livestock and Agriculture and Social Wellbeing. The event, in which FAO headquarters and regional office staff members participated in, was considered a great opportunity to unify criterion in the creation of State policies.

Those who participated in the meeting were: the Livestock and Agriculture Ministry (MAG), The Social Wellbeing Ministry, The Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECI), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (COSUDE), the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), The Ecuatorian-Canadian Fund FECD), The German Cooperation Agency (GTZ), FAO, World Food Programm, Network of Projects Regarding Food Security (REDPESA), SNV Netherlands Development Organization,(SNV), and the Special Food Security Program in Ecuador.

The Coordinating Board also acknowledged the reactivation of the activities of the National Executive Committee on Food Security (CENASA) who widely supporting the realization of the National Forum on Food Security

For further information regarding the activities being carried out by the Coordinating Board please contact the FAO representative in Ecuador, FAO-EC@fao.org