France, EU and WFP meet to discuss impact of war in Ukraine on food security (13 Apr. 2022)

France’s Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Agriculture and Food Julien Denormandie and EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič met with David Beasley, Executive Director (ED) of the World Food Program (WFP), to discuss the dramatic consequences of the war in Ukraine on food security, especially for developing countries and the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Ministers, the EU Commissioner and the Executive Director expressed their deep preoccupation with regards to the aggravation of food insecurity around the world. They welcomed the decision adopted by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the 8th of April on the impacts of the war in Ukraine on global food security.

They are calling on the international community to spare no efforts to support the countries and communities most impacted, who disproportionately bear the cost of this crisis.

They expressed their determination to build a common and operational response to this crisis with all willing partners. The framework of the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM) is an example in this regard. Structured around three “pillars” (trade, solidarity and production), this initiative laid out by the European Council, will facilitate the free flow of agricultural trade and goods and support WFP in its efforts to provide access to food supply at reasonable prices in a fair and equitable manner to the most vulnerable countries, while promoting local and regional sustainable food production to preserve food and nutrition security in the long run for vulnerable countries. In the meantime, more work and resources will need to be dedicated to address the short-term humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable people around the world.

Ministers, the EU Commissioner and the Executive Director decided to maintain a close dialogue on the monitoring of food security around the world and on the operationalization of FARM, in close collaboration with all partners and competent international organizations.