Vanuatu Food Summit 2009 Program and Presentations

Program

Day 1 - 28 September 2009
Barriers to Food Security

Welcome - Minister of Health

Session 1 - Understanding Food Security and Health Issues: Current Situation
- The Pacific - Facing a Security Crisis in a Changing Global Environment
- Putting Good Nutrition at the Front End of Food Security: A discussion of the bruden of NCDs, micronutrient deficiency and undernutrition in the Pacific
- Private-Public Partnerships add value to food and enhance health
- Possible steps and potential benefits of the Food Industry and Governments working together to improve food quality and health in the Paficic
Session 2 - Identifying the barriers to enhancing food security and what is needed to overcome it
- Government perspectives on food security in Vanuatu (health, agriculture, trade, meteorology)
- An example of barriers to food security in Vanuatu
- Capacity and food standard barriers to food, nutrition and health security
- Vanuatu National Codex Committee (VNCC) and the role it plays in food security
- Dialogue: what gaps exist in the food security infrastructure from a government perspective
- Challenges to ensuring a quality food supply chain in Vanuatu
- Consumer perspectives on food security
- Diaglogue: what gaps exist in the food security infrastructure from and industry and consumer perspective? What needs to be done locally to overcome food security gaps and barriers?

Day 2 - 29 September
Improving Food Security

Session 3 - Leadership and Governance
- Strengthening leadership and governance of food security in Vanuatu and the Pacific
- Dialogue: Practical steps for strengthening leadership
Session 4 - Food Production and Food Access - Identifying Actions to achieve a Food Secure Country
- An intensified approach to improve livelihoods, and food supply and access through enhanced and sustainable production and processing in the Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Resources
- Discussion: What regional actions are needed to improve food production and access?
- Achieving food security in Agriculture in Vanuatu
- The contribution of Cooperatives to food security
- The contribution of local produce to food security
- Discussion - What local actions are needed to improve food production and access?
Session 5 - Facilitating Trade in and Marketing of Food that is Safe and Nutritious
- A regulatory approach to addressing food safety and the double burden of NCDs and under-nutrition in the Pacific
- Trade implications of a regulartory approach to improving food quality - what can you do?
- What trade officers can to to support a regulatory approach to improving food quality and what help they need?
- What customs officers can do to support a regulatory approach to improving food quality and what help they need
- Discussion: What regional and local actions are required to encourage trade-in and marketing of safe and nutritious foods.
Session 6 - Protection of Vulnerable Groups
- Scaling up strategies to protect the food security of infants and other vulnerable populations
- Dialogue: practical steps for protecting vulnerable groups

Day 3 - September 30
Improving Food Security

Session 7 - Industry Adding Value to Food
- Adding health value to cassava flour
- Voluntary actions businesses can take to improve food quality
- What industry can do to add health value to food: options for reducing salt, fat and sugar and fortification?
- How can industry and government work together to improve food quality?
- What media can do to help promote safe and nutritious foods
- Dialogue: Practical actions to enhance industry commitment to adding health value
Session 8 - Monitoring, Research and Knowledge Transfer
- Stregthening food and nutrition monitoring and research to ensure timely availability of data
- Dialogue: Practical actions for strengthening monitoring research and knowledge transfer
- A National Action Plan for improving food and health security in Vanuatu: scope and content of the plan
- Dialogue: What are the priority strategies and recommendations
- The Pacific Declaration on Food Security - finalisation of recommendations for improving food security in Vanuatu and the Pacific