The 33rd FAO Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean concluded today in Santiago, Chile.

Santiago, May 9, 2014 - Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have advanced a robust agenda aimed at achieving the eradication of hunger in the region, during a major FAO meeting which concluded today in Santiago, Chile.

All thirty-three countries of the region have reaffirmed their commitment to eradicate hunger by 2025 via the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative, as well as pledged to strengthen actions to eliminate malnutrition.

"What we have seen in this Conference is a huge regional commitment to progress on food security by governments, civil society and the private sector, which has been turned into a concrete agenda of actions to eradicate hunger", said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

The priority that governments are giving to the fight against hunger was evinced by the participation at the conference of top leaders from across the region, including the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, the Vice-President for Social Matters of Venezuela, Hector Rodriguez, the First Lady of Peru, Nadine Heredia, and 19 State ministers and 12 deputy-ministers, all of whom agreed to implement various international cooperation initiatives.

The Minister of Agriculture of Chile and President of the Regional Conference, Carlos Furche, expressed his satisfaction with the results of the meeting, highlighting the cooperative agreements between countries to overcome hunger and promote the sustainable development of agriculture.

The Minister noted that countries of the region congratulated FAO on its work in support of their national and regional efforts to achieve food security.

Mesoamerica without hunger FAO and the Mexican Agency for International Cooperation for Development, AMEXCID, signed a "Mesoamerica without Hunger" South-South cooperation agreement, with the aim of moving towards the eradication of malnutrition in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Colombia, with a $ 15 million dollar budget.

FAO and Venezuela will support sustainable rice production in Africa The Government of Venezuela and FAO signed an agreement to promote sustainable rice production systems in sub-Saharan Africa, which will support ten countries to strengthen their food security through more efficient rice production, with a strong emphasis on small producers.

FAO and ITAIPU binational entity will promote South-South cooperation During the Conference, FAO and the Brazilian-Paraguayan binational entity ITAIPU signed an agreement to promote South-South triangular cooperation activities on public policies relating to food security, energy and water, encouraging their ties to the sustainable production of goods and services and the promotion of value chains and productive linkages for family farmers.

Governments approved FAO's work plan The region's governments also approved three regional initiatives as the fundamental guidelines for FAO's regional work program for the next two years: The first involves supporting the Hunger-Free Latin America and the Caribbean 2025 Initiative; the second focuses on family farming and territorial development in rural areas; and the third seeks to improve food and agricultural systems at the national and regional level.