Wickremesinghe asks the UN to convene the agriculture ministers for the food crisis

The president of one of the countries most seriously affected by the rise in prices in recent months asks the United Nations for a global emergency plan, to be implemented before February 2023. The higher costs of food are combined with the increase in interest on the debt. As a consequence, 48 countries in the world that are already being hit by hunger, will have to face an increase of 9 billion dollars in their expenses.

Colombo (Asia News) – At COP27, the Conference on Climate Change, which takes place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, the President of Sri Lanka made a request to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. He requested that a summit of agriculture ministers from all member states be convened to assess food needs and present a report for 2023 and 2024.

The request is significant, since it comes from a country that has literally been brought to its knees by the economic and political crisis of recent months. Wickremesinghe stressed the need to work closely with multilateral financing sources, as well as to immediately formulate a plan aimed at reducing debt and guaranteeing global food security. The plan should be ready before February to be implemented before the end of the first quarter of 2023. Subsequently, COP28 – to be held next year in Dubai – would be in charge of formulating a medium-term plan to guarantee global food security.

“Today, almost a billion people suffer from hunger and, according to the International Monetary Fund, more than 300 million people are at risk of starvation,” the Sri Lankan president said. Affected countries fall into two categories: countries where food is not available, and countries that used to have adequate food availability but are now unable to procure it because of rising costs. In both cases, he added, the increase in the cost of the debt contracted by the poorest countries makes it more difficult to guarantee food at affordable prices for the entire population.

According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rise in the prices of food products and fertilizers, added to the costs of financing the debt, will add 9 billion dollars to food import expenses in 48 countries, the most affected by hunger. “We must act quickly,” Wickremesinghe concluded. “Otherwise, the damage to the social and political fabric of these countries will be irreparable”