Besides encouraging initiatives in the areas of culture and history, the Year of Brazil in France has enabled the two countries to exchange experiences in the area of food security.
The president of the National Food and Nutritional Security Council (Consea), Chico Menezes, was a member of the Brazilian mission that traveled to Paris last week during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to France, and he participated in events in which the war on hunger was the main topic.
“What matters is to note that there has been an exchange between French and Brazilians, identifying the existence of many differences, but also considerable similarity. This opens the way for very wide-ranging future activities,” the Consea president remarked.
According to Menezes, the Brazilian example of combating hunger drew French attention. “The option for the Zero Hunger program arouses great curiosity and interest,” he judged.
Menezes observed that France, despite being a developed country, also faces problems of hunger and food insecurity.
According to him, not only in France, but in other European countries, this is a problem that affects “most of all, immigrant populations that subsist under very serious conditions of social exclusion.”
Initiatives at the municipal level in the area of food security were also the object of attention in France, Menezes says.
“We also focused a lot on the local aspect. Mayors and state secretaries accompanied us to France to present how the question of food security is handled in the cities.”
ABr – www.radiobras.gov.br