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JAKARTA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agricultue
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations here on Monday said that countries in
the Asia-Pacific region were not on tract to reduce the number of undernourished
people and called for the concerned sides to accelerate progress to reach the
target set by the UN.
FAO spokesman for Asia and the Pacific region Dideric
de Vleeschauwer said that the number of undernourished people in the region had
increased to 850 million from 800 million in 1999, when the first World Food
Summit was held in Rome and declared the target of halving the figure by 2015.
"Seven years after it was targeted, the figure does
not decrease but increase," Dideric told Xinhua, adding that a meeting would be
held in September in Rome to review the target.
Meanwhile, FAO Assistant Director-General and
Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific region He Changchui said that
the countries in the region must speed up their efforts to achieve the target.
"Despite the rapid economic growth, we are not on
tract to meet the World Food Summit target of halving the number of the
undernourished people by 2015," he said during his welcome speech for the 28th
FAO's Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific Region kicked off here on
Monday morning.
The progress needed to be accelerated to meet the
target, he said, adding that if the region did not meet the target, it would
face another increase of undernourished people.
"Clearly, achieving this goal at a minimum level, if
not exceeding it, must be our highest priority. This is the biggest challenge to
all of us who assemble here today," he said.
The FAO's meeting will be held from Monday to Friday
for agricultural ministers and senior officials from 46 Asia-Pacific countries
to review the state of agriculture and food security. The topics range from food
security, poverty alleviation, bird flu prevention, natural disaster
containment, pesticide management, transboundary animal disease prevention to
bioenergy development. Enditem | 
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