World migration report 2024
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the World Migration Report 2024, which reveals significant shifts in global migration patterns, including a record number of displaced people
Food Security
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Sri Lanka President proposes setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday strongly urged the world leaders to seriously consider setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund, in order to meet future food crisis. "I strongly commend to the world leaders gathered here to seriously consider the setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund that will have contributions from all countries and from large business organizations that transcend geographical boundaries, and from financial institutions, arms manufacturers and philanthropists of the world, among others,' the President said addressing the UN Food Summit in Rome.
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UN for urgent steps to tackle food crisis
UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for a huge rise in food production Tuesday as world leaders started a summit on the food price crisis that threatens to plunge millions more people into poverty. The UN secretary general said food output had to rise 50 percent by 2030 to meet rising demand, increased finance for agriculture and the elimination of "trade and taxation policies that distort markets."
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Abu Dhabi looks to Sudan for food supply
Abu Dhabi is preparing to launch a large-scale agricultural project in Sudan to develop more than 70,000 acres of land as part of the oil-rich Gulf emirate's efforts to secure food supplies. The project comes amid growing interest from Middle Eastern states to use land overseas to ensure food security. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have also held talks with Sudan and are considering agricultural projects of their own in Africa's largest nation, officials confirmed yesterday.
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Zimbabwe's Mugabe blames West at U.N. food summit
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe defended land policies blamed for devastating his country's agricultural sector, asserting at a U.N. food summit Tuesday that the West was trying to cripple the nation's economy. Mugabe's presence at a summit addressing high global food prices sparked protests from some world leaders. He is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket and Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials. MUGABE SLAMMED: Critics attack Zimbabwean for attending summit
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Food summit heads for biofuels clash
Biofuel subsidies came under attack on Tuesday at the opening of the United Nations food summit in Rome as the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation claimed that "nobody" understood the diversion of food to fuel cars. The opening salvo is likely to set the tone for the next three days and put countries such as the US and Brazil, the world's largest biofuel producers, and also the European Union, on the defensive over their support of biofuel production.
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SAARC Food Bank likely to be operational soon
The SAARC Food Bank is likely to be operational soon with the completion of ratification by the member states, reliable sources said. According to a highly placed source, among the member states of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), so far four -- Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka -- have ratified the declaration for establishment of the proposed SAARC Food Bank. The declaration is now awaiting the ratification by the other SAARC nations.
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Battle against hunger
RAGHU DAYAL Shifting paradigms of food security and the impact of trade liberalisation on it FOOD SECURITY
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Japan PM leaves for Europe for talks on food crisis
Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda left for Europe on Sunday for talks with fellow leaders on the global food crisis as he prepares to host the Group of Eight summit in July, officials said. Fukuda, facing slumping approval ratings, hopes to use the G8 summit of world leaders to boost Japan's diplomatic clout and highlight its efforts to help tackle global warming and food shortages in developing countries. On the first leg of his five-day European trip, he is to arrive in Berlin late Sunday to hold talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel, a government official said.
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Global food crisis and Indian response
M.S. Swaminathan It is hoped that at the Rome Conference on world food security, Indian representatives will serve as a bright affirming flame in the midst of the sea of despair we see around us.
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Global meet on food crisis in Rome
World leaders are set to gather in Rome on Tuesday for a high-profile summit on food security as runaway prices have sparked riots across the world. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open the conference by unveiling an "action plan" to confront the scourge, said diplomats ahead of the conference, which lasts through Thursday, at the Food and Agriculture Organisation's headquarters here. The plan was put together by a crisis team involving the heads of several U.N. agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions, said the sources.