G8 leaders to set up task force on food crisis
JAPAN: Leaders from the Group of Eight industrial powers will agree
to establish a task force at their summit next month to tackle the world
food crisis, a report said Monday.
The group will aim to address the immediate problem of food shortages
in poorer countries as well as address longer-term challenges such as
boosting food production, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, citing unnamed
government sources.
The working group is also expected to discuss removal of export
restrictions and directing global food stockpiles to those most in need,
the daily said.
The report came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would
press G8 leaders at their July summit in Japan to tackle the world food
crisis, as well as climate change and the flagging fight against global
poverty.
The G8 is made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia and the United States.
G8 leaders are expected to issue a statement on the food crisis at
the summit in the northern Japanese resort town of Toyako, senior
Japanese official Masaharu Kohno has said.
G8 finance ministers warned at their meeting earlier this month that
soaring oil and food prices pose “a serious challenge to stable growth
worldwide” and may worsen poverty and stoke global inflation.
Tokyo, Monday, AFP |