OSCAR BERGER: "Painful food panorama in Guatemala".
The President reaffirms commitment to fight hunger
at FAO Regional Conference

Guatemala City, 28 April 2004 - Guatemala holds a "shameful place" in the world because of its indicators in under nourishment and human wellbeing. This was expressed by the President of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, at the Opening Ceremony of the Twenty Eighth FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The President recognized that "all along its history, with the exception of brief periods of time, Guatemala has not made the necessary efforts to overcome the low nutrition levels of its children. And always - he stated - when efforts have been exerted, they have been remedial in nature, without attacking the fundamental causes that explain and generate this historical failure incurred by Guatemala".

"This is why we would like to receive from this meeting of experts those ideas, that advice, those recommendations, those experiences lived by other countries, that might illuminate us to address this painful situation in the best possible manner", he said.

"The mandate of FAO always embodies great value for us, but the more so today, when the will to overcome the nutritional deficiencies of Guatemala children, is inscribed importantly in the national agenda", indicated President Oscar Berger.

"We subscribe to the aspiration of attaining high nutrition levels for all the people of Guatemala, and we know that the road to achieve these objectives passes through improving productivity in agriculture and in the economic sector of our country. We wish to contribute, from the Government, to the growth of industrial economy, to serve the physical and psychological development of all the people of Guatemala. And, if towards the end of our mandate we have achieved it, we would feel humbly satisfied", he concluded.

The FAO Director-General, Senegalese Jacques Diouf, also urged "results" to those present "so that we may truly advance on the road towards the end of food insecurity".

"Positive results will form the seeds on which to build the bases to open a new chapter in the history of humankind where we will have achieved the dream of completely eliminating the problem of hunger", he stated.