In collaboration with the United Nations, the Cambodian government has launched the national Zero Hunger Challenge (ZHC), a major initiative to eradicate hunger in the country by 2025, according to a joint statement on Tuesday.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly, chairman of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, presided over the launching ceremony, which was attended by over 200 representatives from key ministries, development partners, UN agencies, national and international organizations, and the private sector.

"The ZHC is one of the efforts complementing international and regional programs such as Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition, and the national programs contribute to the reduction of hunger poverty and malnutrition," Yim Chhay Ly said.

To assist the government to achieve this goal by the target date, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children' s Fund (UNICEF) will provide collective assistance to help develop the country's National Action Plan to successfully achieve the ZHC initiative, the statement said.

"The National Action Plan will create an institutional platform to design, implement and coordinate food security and nutrition policy measures so as to have the maximum sustainable impact on national food security, sustainable poverty reduction and new rural development," it said.

At the event, FAO regional representative for Asia and the Pacific Hiroyuki Konuma highlighted Cambodia's recent achievements in fighting hunger, down from 49 percent to 32 percent in 2014.

"Cambodia has already reduced the proportion of undernourished by more than 17 percent since 2000, and the country is recognized as successfully having reached the Millennium Development Goal 1 target of reducing hunger by half by 2015," he said. "But we must not stop there let's move for zero."

Claire Van der Vaeren, resident coordinator of the United Nations Development Program to Cambodia, said the national ZHC enables existing initiatives to work more closely together, finds synergies and maximizes impact in the elimination of hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Cambodia.

"I am pleased to acknowledge that the UN Country Team, particularly FAO, WFP, UNICEF and development partners are working closely with each other and with other entities to pull together the existing initiatives and sector priorities under the overall coordination of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development to deliver the National Action Plan for Zero Hunger Challenge in Cambodia," she said. Endi

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