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11889
Tue, 07/08/2008 - 15:30
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https://oananews.org//node/11889
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World Bank chief says G-8 facing 'test' it cannot afford to fail
RUSUTSU, Japan, July 8 (Kyodo) - World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Monday that the international community is facing a double danger of escalating fuel and food prices, urging leaders at the Group of Eight summit to move toward strong action to help savethe most vulnerable.
''How we respond to this double jeopardy of soaring fuel and food prices is a test of the global system's commitment to help the most vulnerable,'' Zoellick said at the International Media Center in Rusutsu, about 30 kilometers from the Lake Toya venue of the summit in Hokkaido. ''It's a test we cannot afford to fail.'' He said no one would expect that the G-8 summit can solve all the world's ills, partly because ''many of the important players are missing.''But he said, ''This summit can make an important start, here and now,'' by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable and making commitments in increasing production of food and fuel in the medium and long term.
Zoellick said the world does not need to have a ''scientific breakthrough...What we need now is resources, action and results in real time.'' To enhance food production and rural development, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who attended a news conference with Zoellick, said official development assistance on agricultural issues, currently accounting for 3 percent of the world's total development aid, should be raised to at least ''10 percent without diverting funds from existing education and health projects.''Zoellick said one of the steps that should be taken immediately to address the food crisis is to scrap export restrictions and taxes on food purchases for humanitarian purposes.
He expressed hope that the United Nations General Assembly would vote in September for a resolution to abolish such restrictions.
Despite many difficulties, Zoellick urged the international community to turn this food crisis into ''an opportunity for development over the long term.''He said that effective investments could strongly boost agricultural production in developing countries, especially Africa, and provide bigger incomes for the poor.
To prevent the most vulnerable from experiencing such a crisis again, Zoellick also proposed that the G-8 countries consider exploring the possibility of creating an internationally coordinated reserve system for food emergencies.
Prior to the three-day G-8 summit that began Monday, Zoellick noted in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that the world is being hit by a combination of record oil and food prices for the first time since 1973.
He said the soaring prices are ''threatening to drive over 100 million people into extreme poverty and reverse the gains made in overcoming poverty over the last seven years.''''We are entering a danger zone,'' Zoellick warned in the letter.
''How we respond to this double jeopardy of soaring fuel and food prices is a test of the global system's commitment to help the most vulnerable,'' Zoellick said at the International Media Center in Rusutsu, about 30 kilometers from the Lake Toya venue of the summit in Hokkaido. ''It's a test we cannot afford to fail.'' He said no one would expect that the G-8 summit can solve all the world's ills, partly because ''many of the important players are missing.''But he said, ''This summit can make an important start, here and now,'' by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable and making commitments in increasing production of food and fuel in the medium and long term.
Zoellick said the world does not need to have a ''scientific breakthrough...What we need now is resources, action and results in real time.'' To enhance food production and rural development, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who attended a news conference with Zoellick, said official development assistance on agricultural issues, currently accounting for 3 percent of the world's total development aid, should be raised to at least ''10 percent without diverting funds from existing education and health projects.''Zoellick said one of the steps that should be taken immediately to address the food crisis is to scrap export restrictions and taxes on food purchases for humanitarian purposes.
He expressed hope that the United Nations General Assembly would vote in September for a resolution to abolish such restrictions.
Despite many difficulties, Zoellick urged the international community to turn this food crisis into ''an opportunity for development over the long term.''He said that effective investments could strongly boost agricultural production in developing countries, especially Africa, and provide bigger incomes for the poor.
To prevent the most vulnerable from experiencing such a crisis again, Zoellick also proposed that the G-8 countries consider exploring the possibility of creating an internationally coordinated reserve system for food emergencies.
Prior to the three-day G-8 summit that began Monday, Zoellick noted in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that the world is being hit by a combination of record oil and food prices for the first time since 1973.
He said the soaring prices are ''threatening to drive over 100 million people into extreme poverty and reverse the gains made in overcoming poverty over the last seven years.''''We are entering a danger zone,'' Zoellick warned in the letter.
