United Nations Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon speaks during a press conference at a U.N. crisis summit on rising
food prices at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome June 4,
2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
ROME, June 5 (Xinhua) -- World leaders hammered out a
common response Thursday to the global food crisis after three days of wrangling
at a United Nations summit amid soaring food prices.
"We firmly resolve to use all means to alleviate the
suffering caused by the current crisis, to stimulate food production and to
increase investment in agriculture," delegates from around 180 countries,
including 44 leaders, said in a declaration.
"We commit to eliminating hunger and to securing food
for all today and tomorrow," the declaration said.
In the declaration, world governments pledged to take
urgent action to prevent soaring food prices from pushing millions of people
into hunger, boost investment on agriculture for increase of output and ease
trade restrictions.
The three-day summit, hosted by the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), was called at a time when the world is
experiencing a dramatic increase in food prices.
Agricultural commodity prices rose sharply in the
past two years and continued to rise even more sharply in the first three months
of 2008, with foodstuff such as rice, corn and wheat all reaching record highs,
sparking riots in many countries and worsening the situation of the 850 million
people already affected by chronic hunger.
The declaration called on donors and UN organizations
to provide more aid for developing countries.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the summit that
global food output should rise by 50 percent by the year 2030 to meet the rising
demand and as much as 15 billion to 20 billion U.S. dollars would be needed
yearly to boost production.
Though everybody is committed to "eliminating hunger
and to securing food for all," world governments found it difficult to agree on
how to do.
Biofuels proved to one of the sticking points, with
the growth of biofuel production, notably in the United States, the European
Union and Brazil, widely blamed for the food price hike.
The declaration took a mild tone by saying biofuels
present both "challenges and opportunities" and calling for more research on
their effect on food security and climate change.
"I think that we have achieved the results that we
were hoping for," said FAO Director General Jacques Diouf at a final press
conference which was put off several hours due to squabbling among governments.
"This should enable us to resolve some of the most
important problems of our times -- the problem of hunger in the world, the
problem of food production in the world, the problem of the demand for food
products," he said.
ROME, June 4 (Xinhua) -- As much as 15 billion to 20
billion U.S. dollars would be needed yearly to help fight the food crisis amid
soaring prices, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said here on Wednesday.
"Substantial new resources will be needed, perhaps as
much as 15 billion to 20 billion U.S. dollars a year as our efforts build up,"
Ban told a press conference on the sidelines of a world summit on the food
crisis hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO). Full story
