Welcome back, colleagues.
For the benefit of our witnesses in the second panel, I would encourage all participants to mute their microphones when they're not speaking, and please address comments through the chair.
When you have 30 seconds left in your questioning or speaking time, I will signal you with this famous yellow piece of paper. Interpretation, if required, is available at the bottom of your screen through the globe icon.
I would now like to welcome our second panel of distinguished witnesses to the committee.
We now welcome the Honourable Bob Rae, ambassador and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York.
We welcome Sir Mark Lowcock, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; and David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme.
Before we begin, on behalf of the committee, I would like to congratulate Mr. Beasley and the entire WFP team on being awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. This prize was awarded to WFP “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.” Congratulations, sir, to you and your team.
Ambassador Rae, we will start with you. I will turn the floor over to you for five minutes of prepared remarks.
Welcome.