10th G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (G20 MACS)
Communiqué adopted at the conclusion of the two-day G20 MACS event
June 18th, 2021
As part of the meetings under the G20 Presidency of Italy, the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies organised the 10th G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists – G20 MACS on 15th and 16th June 2021, in virtual format.
The meeting was coordinated by Graziella Romito, Chair of the G20 MACS, who illustrated the priority issues proposed by the Italian Presidency. Stefania De Pascale, Vice-President of CREA (The Council for Agricultural Research and Economics) intervened at the opening of the conference.
During the meeting, the G20 Delegations discussed the concrete contribution of science to the transformation of agri-food systems towards more sustainable models, a topic introduced by FAO Chief Scientist Ismahane Elouafi.
CREA Research Director Marcello Donatelli introduced the issue of Digital Traceability and the G20 Countries explored its potential contribution to food safety during the discussion.
Luigi Cattivelli, Director of the Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Center of CREA, and Kevin Pixley of CIMMYT presented the topic of New Breeding Technologies applied to agriculture.
Joachim von Braun illustrated the work carried out by the Scientific Group of the UNFSS while Dirk Nemitz, from the UNFCCC Secretariat, presented the preparatory activities for COP26.
The Italian Presidency will be holding two workshops, as part of the Meetings of Agricultural Chief Scientists, on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Climate Change, which will take place in virtual format on 1st and 2nd of September 2021, respectively.
Delegations shared their own Countries’ experiences and best practices, expressing their common interest in strengthening international scientific research cooperation on digital traceability and on new breeding technologies.
At the end of the two-day Meeting, the G20 MACS Communiqué has been adopted.