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ROME: World leaders held last-ditch talks Thursday to agree an
action plan to tackle the global food crisis after three days of
wrangling that has exposed strains over how to prevent hunger and
poverty.
In a draft summit declaration obtained by Agence
France-Presse, they vowed to use “all means” to help victims of
soaring prices, which have stretched family budgets in rich
countries and sparked food riots in others.
But the draft includes compromise language
notably on the vexed issue of biofuels, which are promoted in Brazil
and the United States but criticized by others as taking land that
could otherwise be used to produce food.
Hours before the final declaration was due to be
agreed in Rome, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned
against short-term fixes.
“We mustn’t give in to panic, to surrender
to the temptation for short-term solutions, even if we have to
respond to a situation of distress,” he told the summit.
The wrangling over diplomatic language came
after UN officials announced almost $3 billion (two billion euros)
of new aid to help ease the food crisis.
Those new pledges were welcomed, but UN chief
Ban Ki Moon warned that up to $20 billion a year would be needed.
“We simply cannot afford to fail,” he told the summit hosted by
the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Food prices have doubled in three years,
according to the World Bank, sparking riots in Egypt and Haiti and
in many African nations. Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all
imposed food export restrictions.
The first day of the summit Tuesday saw colorful
remarks by the presidents of Iran and Zimbabwe about Western
pressure, while there has been plenty of criticism of rich
countries’ protection of their markets.
But by Wednesday, John Holmes, head of the UN
task force on the crisis, said a “broad consensus” was building
around an action plan, which is scheduled to be presented at a Group
of Eight meeting in Japan later this month.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for
the lifting of trade barriers that contribute to food price
inflation.
In the draft summit declaration the leaders vow
to “use all means to alleviate the suffering caused by the current
crisis, stimulate food production and increase investment in
agriculture.”
They also agreed that food security must be
taken into account in a long hoped-for new world trade accord.
“We will strive to ensure that food
agricultural trade and overall trade policies are conducive to
fostering food security for all,” they said, referring to
last-gasp efforts to agree a World Trade Organization deal.
-- AFP
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