The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has stated Ghana’s readiness to join global efforts aimed at eliminating export restrictions on excess grains to bring on stream grains in parts of Eastern Europe, where there is an ongoing conflict.
She made this remark in her address at the Security Council Meeting on the Nexus between Armed Conflicts and Food Insecurity.
Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey also expressed Ghana’s support for efforts to reactivate global maritime transport with a priority on food supply, and to ensure that the countries which are experiencing the effects of the CO VID-19 pandemic and war have the required credit to purchase grains.
Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey stated that current global developments have exposed the destructive linkages between armed conflict, hunger, and food security.
She noted that although the current global food security crisis precedes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has projected the interconnected nature and fragility of global food systems, with serious consequences for global food and nutrition security, particularly for vulnerable countries and populations.
The Hon. Foreign Minister observed that Africa is hardest hit by the global food crisis.
What is therefore needed are purposeful actions that support efforts of developing countries, such as the African Common Position for Sustainable Food Systems which focuses on building resilience in economies and food systems.
She added that the scale and effectiveness of the efforts of the IMF and the World Bank in filling the financing gap in Africa in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through fast-track facilities contingency emergency financing as well as the IMF’s issue of Special Drawing Rights, among others, provide a model for addressing short term shortages and building resilience.
Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey noted that in conflict situations, the parties in the conflict are required to facilitate the movement of food and fertilizers through the Black Sea ports and other transportation lanes.
She, therefore, called on all those in the position to do so, to act in the interest of international cooperation and the values of the United Nations.
She acknowledged the role that global humanitarian hubs such as the International Humanitarian City in Dubai and regional humanitarian hubs like the one in Accra can play in interconnecting humanitarian needs with food availability.
She urged the international humanitarian community to deepen its national and regional coordination mechanisms for programming and responding to humanitarian crises and align its interventions with national and regional response plans.
Additionally, she called on major donors to cooperate toward pooling resources to facilitate integrative work, and in a manner that does not prioritize food distribution to vulnerable communities over a sustainable approach to helping them to reconstruct their food systems.
The Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs made a clarion call for the Comity of Nations to take pragmatic steps to prevent starvation and death, and restore economic and financial stability for the benefit of all.
Source: MyPublisher24.com