Decent housing, work and access to natural resources are the only ways to end the "slavery" of hunger, Conte told an international meeting in Rome on Thursday, reiterating an appeal by Pope Francis to the gathering.
"Adequate shelter, and access to natural resources...these are very dear to you Holy Father," Conte said in an address to the annual session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a UN agency that aims to eradicate poverty and hunger in rural areas of the developing world.
"And you cite them as essential to carrying out the mission to abolish the slavery of hunger," Conte said, turning to Francis.
"This is a moral duty as well as a political one," Conte said.
In his keynote address, Francis called on global decision-makers in the public and private sectors to unite efforts to tackle poverty and hunger in rural areas by involving the local populations as "responsible architects" of progress.
IFAD's two-day Governing Council meeting is focused this year on rural innovation and entrepreneurship.
