Ministers from around Asia and the Pacific gathered in Brunei Darussalam last April 24-27 to negotiate collaboration pathways and priority areas of action with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). They aim to harness the region’s increasingly prosperous and dynamic agricultural capacities to bolster food security for all, while ensuring smallholders benefit from technology and trade.

The conference comes at a critical time. Increased energy and fertilizer costs, reduced income from agricultural exports to Gulf countries, and ongoing uncertainty caused by the 2026 conflict in the Middle East is increasing volatility in agricultural commodity markets, tightening the connection between geopolitical risk, food-energy systems and global inflation pressures. This is in addition to longer term pressures from intensifying climate impacts including droughts, floods and extreme weather events, and land and water degradation.

“We must build resilience from within, because no external help will be sustainable without our own collective will,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in remarks to the key Ministerial meeting on Thursday. The 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.

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.”

Note: This article is originally published in the FAO Asia and the Pacific website.