United Nations: UN food agency has signed USD one billion agreement with an Islamic bank to provide aid in agriculture in developing countries, ahead of 'The World Food Summit' that kicked off on Monday at Rome.
The agreement was signed by Islamic Development Bank
(IDB) President Ahmad Mohamed Ali, and UN Food and
Agricultural Organisation (FAO) chief Jacques Diouf, under
which the IDB will provide USD one billion to finance priority
projects in 26 least-developed IDB member countries.
The FAO in a statement said the deal is expected to help
leverage additional resources and bring total investment in
the IDB-FAO programme to USD 5 billion by 2012.
This agreement comes at a critical moment, when the
international community recognises it has neglected
agriculture for many years, the statement said, adding that
sustained investment in agriculture, especially smallholder
agriculture is central to food security.
The food agency stated that current food crises stems
from 20 years of under-investment and neglect in agriculture.
The Summit has been convened to build political momentum
to increase investment in agriculture with an aim of reducing
the number of hungry people in the world.
Over 60 heads of State and Government are expected to
attend the Summit. The FAO has launched an online campaign
calling on the general public to to go on a "hunger strike
against hunger."
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 00:27