As the global food crisis brought about by the Russian war against Ukraine worsens, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Agriculture and Food and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management are traveling to Rome today to meet with the leaders of the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (FIDA) and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
The ministers and the European commissioner will also have an in-depth conversation on food security and the consequences of the Russian aggression in Ukraine with the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
As the Russian aggression causes tensions on the grain market to mount given Ukraine's struggles to complete its upcoming harvest and export its grain, the ministers will discuss initiatives to limit speculative risks and prevent the worsening of food insecurity, which causes the most suffering in the most vulnerable countries.
They will talk about the possibility of implementing the Food & Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM), an international solidarity mechanism. This initiative aims to calm tensions on the agricultural markets, guarantee that the most vulnerable countries have access to reasonably priced goods and make sure that resources are distributed in an equitable manner. Lastly, in the medium term, this initiative will make it possible to strengthen agricultural system resilience in the most vulnerable countries.
During this visit, the ministers will reaffirm France's support for the multilateral food security organizations: WFP, FAO and FIDA.