Brussels, 03/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is strongly represented at the high level conference being held in Rome from 3-5 June by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the theme “World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy”. All heads of state and government and all ministers dealing with agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries, water, energy and the environment from all over the world have been invited to this conference to find lasting solutions to the world food crisis.
In addition to the Slovenian EU Council Presidency, represented by the president of the Slovenian Republic and the minister for agriculture, Iztock Jarc, a delegation from the European Parliament headed by Josep Borrell, who chairs the parliamentary development committee, is in Rome.
Louis Michel, European Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, will be in Rome on 5 June to voice the political orientations of the Commission as a possible concrete contribution by the EU to the collective effort required to raise the global challenge of the surge in food prices (EUROPE 9664). All relevant formations of the EU Council have now worked on the subject pending the European Council's examination of the issue on 19-20 June.
Stakes are high as, according to the opening appeal made by Jacques Diouf, FAO Director General, to the 191 countries meeting in Rome, it will take $30 billion a year to reactivate agriculture and remove the threat of food wars. (A.N.)