HANOI - The Senior Officers Meeting (SOM) of the 31st UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific opened here on Monday, attracting participation of representatives from 40 regional member countries and FAO high-ranking officials.

Eradicating hunger has become more and more complex and challenging in this region in the consequence of increasing and volatile food prices, affected by climate change and frequent occurrence of natural disasters, trade policies of food exporting countries, soaring crude oil prices, increased use of staple foods for bio-energy, and other factors, said FAO Assistant Director- General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Hiroyuki Konuma.

Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, delivered a speech at the meeting, emphasizing that FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific is an important event of the agricultural activities of the region in every two years, and that Vietnam has a privilege to be selected by FAO and its member countries to host the 31st FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific in capital Hanoi on March 12-16, 2012.

During the 3-day SOM, senior officers of FAO member countries in the region would discuss in depth the issues of food security and rural poverty reduction and provide consultancy on strategies and measures to the heads of the delegations for endorsement in the Plenary Session convened on March 15-16.