Yesterday, the Neva, a World Food Program (WFP) ship transporting 25,000 tons of wheat donated to Somalia by Ukraine, arrived in the port of Berbera. The wheat will be sent to locations throughout Somalia, a country that has been particularly impacted by the food crisis, and will help 450,000 people over a period of five months.
As the President of France stated in his announcement before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022, France is contributing ?14 million in funding to this operation. This is another example of France's involvement in the fight against global food insecurity and malnutrition, which have been worsened by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. France's contributions to the WFP reached ?160 million in 2022.
This operation is part of the solidarity efforts at the heart of the European Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission Initiative (FARM) and the Grain from Ukraine initiative launched by President Zelensky of Ukraine. In addition to supporting the FARM initiative, France is tackling the issue of global food security through the EU's Solidarity Lanes, which have made it possible to transport over 17 million tons of Ukrainian grain since last March, as well as the Save the Crops initiative launched by President Macron and partners on September 23 in an effort to facilitate access to fertilizer for the most vulnerable countries, especially those in Africa.