High-level food security conference (Rome, June 3, 2008)
“The High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy,” which was held in Rome from June 3 to 5, mobilized the international community on the issue of food security.
President Sarkozy’s proposal for a global partnership on food security was given a very favorable reception and was taken up in the statements of several countries and by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the press conference he gave there.
France is pleased with the final declaration issued at the conference which places the problem of rural and agricultural development at the center of international concerns.
Read the speech by President Sarkozy (excerpts) (Rome, 3 June 2008)
"There’s the emergency response, and I believe every country has agreed to help. France has announced that she will double her emergency food aid: $100 million. I know perfectly well that that does nothing to resolve the fundamental problem; but, conversely, not having done it would have displayed a shocking indifference, given the gravity of the situation. And then there’s the short term: the 2008 and 2009 harvests."
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