Secretary-General convenes inaugural meeting of food crisis task force
Addis Ababa, May 13 (WIC) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday convened the inaugural meeting of a high-level task force of senior United Nations officials aimed at addressing the food crisis, UN News Service reported.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, the Secretary-General said that he recognizes that skyrocketing prices of basic food commodities “is essentially linked to the global demand for food exceeding supply,” but cautioned that “the drivers of the crisis are complex and the consequences are varied.”
The task force – which brings together the heads of many of members of the UN family, as well as leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – seeks to “promote a unified response to the global food price challenge in support of governments and affected populations.”
The meeting focused on creating a comprehensive plan to tackle the soaring food prices. This strategy will encompass both short and longer-term measures – including food aid and social protection – to alleviate the impact of the crisis on the hardest hit.
The elements of the task force’s plan will be presented at next month’s high-level meeting in Rome hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on global food security.
