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UN PhotoFAO / ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE
STORY: FAO / ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE
TRT: 2:55
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 23 APRIL 2026, BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
1. Wide shot, conference center
2. Pan left, FAO Director-General arriving
3. Tracking shot, crown prince of Brunei, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibini Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah arriving (left)
4. Wide shot, photo op
5. Tracking shot, conference in progress
6. SOUNDBITE (English) QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General:
“This region continues however to contain the largest number of undernourished people globally, and is among the most exposed to climate shocks, transboundary animal and plant diseases, market instability and environmental degradation. These challenges are not isolated. They are systemic—and so must be our response. We must build resilience from within, because no external help will be sustainable without our own collective will. This is why the transformation of our agrifood systems is not an option – it is the only way forward.”
7. Tracking shot, conference in progress
8. SOUNDBITE (English) QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General:
“Public resources alone will not be enough. We need to better align public and private finance, de-risk investments, and create enabling policies which support innovation and inclusive growth. FAO is fully committed to supporting you.”
9. Tracking shot, conference in progress
10. SOUNDBITE (English) QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General:
“This regional ministerial conference is taking place at a critical moment in history as we are witnessing converging crises across the region. But at the same time, there are also unprecedented opportunities through science and innovation, digitalization, investment, and partnerships. This region has made remarkable progress in agricultural productivity, trade, and technological innovation.”
11. Tracking shot, conference in progress
12. SOUNDBITE (English) QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General:
“Across Asia and the Pacific, countries are no longer only recipients of solutions - they are providers of expertise, technology, policy innovation, and financing models. Through South‑South and Triangular Cooperation, these home‑grown solutions can be scaled, adapted, and linked to investment pipelines.”
13. Wide shot, delegates applauding
14. Various shots, delegates in corridors
“We must build resilience from within, because no external help will be sustainable without our own collective will,” FAO Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) QU Dongyu told Ministers from around Asia and the Pacific gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam at the 38th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC38).
The Conference, taking place 20-24 April will indicate the priority regional and local themes and areas for FAO to take into account while preparing the Programme of Work and Budget for the next biennium, and aligning them with FAO’s Strategic Framework, Medium-Term Plan and country programming frameworks.
The event was opened by the Crown Prince of Brunei, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibini His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah.
FAO’s Director-General noted that the region, home to more than half the world’s population and food production, has made remarkable progress in agricultural productivity, trade and technological innovation, yet remains home to more food insecure people than any other.
“Public resources alone will not be enough,” he said, urging participants to engage with the theme of financing and investments in agrifood systems, which are at the center of several roundtable dialogues at the APRC38.
Qu pointed to “unprecedented opportunities” for the region through science and innovation, digitalization, investment and partnerships, noting that more and more countries in the region are graduating out of Least Developed Country status and, having a stronger food security base, are aiming to increase trade in their agricultural surpluses and value-added products.
The APRC38’s agenda includes bolstering access to affordable and nutritious diets – which are relatively expensive compared to global averages – speeding up low-emission and sustainable agricultural practices, facilitating trade and market integration and mobilizing domestic and international finance and investment and directing it to smallholders, who constitute 80 percent of all agricultural producers in the region.
Among the ministerial roundtables are sessions focusing on bolstering resilient and inclusive aquatic food systems, accelerating sustainable bioeconomy approaches, and accelerating agrifood investment pathways through FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative.
Those subjects align with FAO’s regional priority areas of work, which comprise Blue transformation, One Health, small-scale producers’ equitable access to resources, digital agriculture; healthy diets for all, safe food for everyone; Climate change-mitigating and adapted agrifood systems; biodiversity and ecosystem services for food and agriculture; and resilient agrifood systems.
FAO Members in Asia and the Pacific have been particularly active in various FAO initiatives that support country-owned and country-led solutions, such as the Digital Village Initiative, the One Country One Priority Product Initiative and the Green Cities Initiative.
“Across Asia and the Pacific, countries are no longer only recipients of solutions,” Qu noted, emphasizing how success stories such as those achieved by South-South Cooperation reflect the spirit of dignified partnership that defines the region. “They are providers of expertise, technology, policy innovation and financing models.”
While Asia and the Pacific produces 54 percent of global agriculture and fish output, the region is also characterized by a vast number of smallholders, who can be vulnerable to shocks in global food, fuel and fertilizer markets and extremely so to impacts from climate change.
For QU, innovation that leaves behind the smallholder is not innovation, but exclusion. That’s doubly relevant as smallholder-dominated landscapes under pressure face challenges from water scarcity and overextraction as well as nutrient depletion. Land degradation is a particularly salient risk across the region.
At the same time, there will be another 200 million people to feed in the region by 2050, which will require distributed access to productivity-boosting tools ranging from improved seeds and weather forecasting to digital advisory services, precision farming methods to save water in the Mekong Delta, solar-powered cold chains to cut post-harvest losses in South Asia, and low-methane rice farming wherever possible.
“FAO is fully committed to supporting you,” the Director-General told the ministers.
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