International Year of the Potato International Year of the Potato The year 2008 was declared the International Year of the Potato by the United Nations, noting that the potato is a staple food in the diet of the world’s population, and affirming the need to focus world attention on the role that the potato can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty. Food and Agriculture Organization was invited to facilitate its implementation. The corresponding resolution adopted on 25 November 2005 by the Food and Agriculture Organization, which was to facilitate the implementation of the year, affirmed "the need to revive public awareness of the
Australia and the United Nations Australia's involvement in East Timor is through UNMISET, the United Nations Mission of Support to East Timor, and UNOTIL, the United Nations Office in Timor Leste and UNMIT, the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste. Australia also has peacekeepers from the Australian Defence Force participating in the United Nations Mission in Sudan, to support the African Union's Mission in Darfur. Seven Australians have commanded or led multinational peacekeeping operations. Nine Australian peacekeepers have died on UN missions. In March 2008, senior United Nations officials travelled to Canberra to meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, elected three months earlier. According to "The