•  united nations
• Friday, February 18, 2011
• Inter Press Service

While finance ministers of the 20 major economies are meeting in Paris this weekend, France’s Minister of Agriculture Bruno Le Maire, announced Thursday that a crucial meeting of G20 agriculture ministers will take place in Paris in June 2011.

Le Maire said it was a moral obligation to take concrete measures against food price volatility, as it constitutes one of the most worrying issues of the twenty-first century. Indeed, he stressed that 40 million people were added last year to the almost one billion people who suffer from hunger.

The French presidency of the G20 proposes concrete actions, not exclusively by the G20 countries, but by all 192 UN Member States. Le Maire emphasized the need to find solutions, and said the French presidency would also work with international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

He said the G8 L’Aquila Summit commitments — 20 billion US dollars —made in 2009 have to be respected, as part of a significant increase in agricultural investments, in order for developing countries to become self-sufficient. Since Official Development Assistance (ODA) will not rise substantially as a result of the financial crisis affecting most developed countries, private investments need to fill the gap. He also expected a key role for financial institutions, while insisting on the need to regulate financial markets to avoid speculation, one of the priorities of the French presidency.

Additionally, he called for the creation of statistical tools to assess international food reserves, as their transparency can be decisive to fight against food prices volatility. Knowing that this can be a sensitive question, especially for countries like China and India, he said he was willing to discuss the matter with the countries concerned and reach consensus. Le Maire stressed that unanimity was possible judging by the reality of the situation: all countries agree that food prices volatility is dangerous and is likely to lead to new food price protests. Especially as 'we know demand will continuously rise, while food production will increase very slowly', for a range of reasons — from rural exodus to climate change, he declared.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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