Rome, 10 October 2001 - Following a meeting held yesterday with high officials of FAO, the Italian Committee responsible for organizing the International NGO Forum was informed that the agreement had not yet been stipulated under which the Italian Government would contribute the resources for the organization of the FAO Summit. As a consequence, FAO cannot make available to the Italian Committee the resources necessary for the organization of the International NGO Forum which foresees a participation of approximately 500 delegates from developing countries.
Under these circumstances, the President of the Association of Italian NGOs and President of the Italian Committee, Sergio Marelli, informed FAO that they would not be in a position to organize, due to lack of time for all necessary technical arrangements, a Forum which would comply with the expectations of the international civil society community.
"This communication - states President Marelli - has been made after consulting the representatives of the International Committee where the NGOs of the South which have been working for the organization of the International NGO Forum are represented."
"The situation which has evolved - continues Marelli - filles us with great dismay , above all considering all the work that has been done for over one year and all the extremely interesting documents already produced by the Regional NGO For a. For this reason, even though the International NGO Forum cannot be held as planned, we are proposing to FAO different initiatives in order to evaluate the work done so far and continue with the valuable consultation between NGOs and FAO."
"The first important initiative promoted by the Association of Italian NGOs - concludes President Marelli - will be the organization of a workshop on the issues related to the World Food Summit, which will be held in FAO headquarters on Tuesday, 16 October 2001, in the framework of the World Food Day. The workshop will, in particular, be attended by representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of Agriculture and of FAO.:
