Food Summit Was Productive
Ag secretary says nations are highly involved in food issue.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jun 6, 2008
The World Food Security Summit hosted by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization wrapped up Thursday in Rome. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer says the meeting was very productive.
"It's been an interesting several days on many of the issues of the food price crisis around the world today," Schafer says. "It's been a good interaction by the member countries."
Schafer presented a three-pronged approach to the meeting focusing on increased humanitarian aid, improving world infrastructure and reducing trade barriers.
"I think we have carried the leadership here on the three-pronged approach," Schafer says. "We're looking to see what elements are going to be set forth by this body so that we can deal with the problem of the food crisis."
Biofuels were a topic of discussion during the conference and the question of fuel versus food did come up but was not that divisive.
"It's our understanding from our folks that are in the negotiating sessions that the biofuel language is acceptable," Schafer says. "We have had a lot of conversations about biofuels here over the last several days and hopefully we see the final declaration and the language we anticipate being in there will hold and certainly that is acceptable to our country."
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Tagged: biofuels, food security, Food and Agriculture Organization
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