Vilsack to attend global food security meeting
Apr 7, 2009 9:21 AM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he will attend the Group of Eight (G8) Agricultural Ministerial in Treviso, Italy, April 18-20.
"Hunger and malnutrition afflict more than one billion people around the world, causing human suffering, political instability and economic stagnation," said Vilsack. "This ministerial affirms our strong commitment to global food security and provides a unique opportunity to work with other agriculture ministers in developing a shared strategy to deal with food security issues."
At the conclusion of last year's G8 Summit in Japan, top leaders issued a statement on global food security, outlining specific commitments to effectively improve the food security situation around the world. They also urged their agriculture ministers to hold a meeting to contribute to developing sound proposals on global food security.
The G8 Agricultural Ministerial, comprised of top agriculture leaders from the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Russia, is one of nine separately planned ministerial-level meetings delineated by function, including agriculture, development, finance and labor.
In addition to agriculture leaders from the G8, agriculture ministers from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt and the Czech Republic are expected to attend this year's Ministerial, as well as the European Union's Commissioner of Agriculture and leaders of the World Bank, the World Food Program, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
(New Course)
(New Course)
