Clinton supports Americas food security initiative

FORMER United States President Bill Clinton is supporting an initiative to strengthen food security in the Americas, according to organisers of a conference opening in Washington today.

“The time has come for the countries of the Americas to review their food security policies and take appropriate steps to make agricultural production a priority,” Clinton says.

The meeting has been organised by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Organisation of American States (OAS) under the theme ‘Agriculture for Development and Food Security in the Americas’.

The organisations said that in remarks to the participants and attendees, Clinton will stress the critical need for increased investment in agriculture in the Western Hemisphere.

Guyana’s Ambassador in Washington Bayney Karran will represent this country at the meeting.

IICA Associate Deputy Director General, David C. Hatch, Director of Strategic Partnerships and IICA Representative in the United States, said support for agricultural development and investment in agricultural technology and innovation have been on the decline in many of the countries in the Americas since the eighties.

“While food security needs are acute in Africa and Asia, we also recognise that there are significant issues here in the Americas”, he said.

In an IICA press release, Hatch said the conference is intended to raise the awareness of the need for improving food security in this hemisphere.

IICA noted that earlier this year, the global community increased its commitment to ending food insecurity and at the G-8 Summit, leaders of the eight largest countries agreed that food security is an international problem and committed to increase international assistance for agricultural development to $20 billion over the next three years.

It recalled that donors last week pledged more than $4.75-billion during the opening day of the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual event led by President Clinton to fight global problems.

About 1,300 political, corporate, and non-profit leaders participated in this year’s gathering in New York, which focused on education, climate change, global health, and poverty, it said.

IICA Director General Dr. Chelston Brathwaite said the priorities of the institute have been focused on repositioning agriculture at the national, regional and hemispheric levels.

“IICA and the OAS have created a platform to elevate the vital importance of increasing agriculture development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, he said.

The institute said senior officials from international organisations including the World Food Programme; the International Food Policy Research Institute; the World Bank; the Inter-American Development Bank; the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture will attend the conference.

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