ASEM conference on food security opens in Thailand
THAILAND: The two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) high-level
conference on food security on Monday opened here to discuss current
situation on food security and future cooperation between the two
regions.
Theera Wongsamut, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister of Thailand
said during the opening ceremony that many factors would generate
negative impact on food security including increasing world population,
natural resource degradation, more frequent and more severe of natural
disaster occurrences, global climate changes as well as rising fuel and
factor input prices.
“For instance, the soaring food price in 2008 has led to rising
number of undernourished people in the world,” the minister said, “Also
the decrease of food production as a result of natural disaster due to
the climate change has led to food shortage in many countries.”
Last week, the United Nations Asia-Pacific regional office said in
its annual social and economic report that high food and oil prices
could keep an additional 42 million people in poverty in the region and
threaten economic growth.
Chiangmai, Monday, Xinhua
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