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President Mori proclaims October 16 as World Food Day

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): October 15, 2010 - Earlier this month, President Mori declared and proclaimed October 16, 2010, to be World Food Day, to be observed throughout the Federation. President Mori urges all citizens to participate in World Food Day celebrations taking place in each four states of the FSM, based on the theme: "Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis."

World Food Day is celebrated internationally every year; it was originally initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on October 16, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945.

The FAO's objectives of World Food Day are to: "encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end; encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries; encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions; heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world; promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world; and strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development."