The US hopes India will “reconsider” its determination to ban wheat exports, with Washington “encouraging” nations to not limit exports as that may exacerbate meals shortages, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, has banned wheat exports in a bid to examine excessive home costs amid issues of wheat output being hit by scorching warmth waves.
The determination would assist management retail costs of wheat and wheat flour, which have risen by a median 14-20 per cent within the final one yr, apart from assembly the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and susceptible nations. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, throughout a digital New York Foreign Press Center briefing on Monday, mentioned: “We have seen the report of India’s decision. We’re encouraging countries not to restrict exports because we think any restrictions on exports will exacerbate the food shortages”.“But you’ve – again, India will be one of the countries participating in our meeting at the Security Council, and we hope that they can, as they hear the concerns being raised by other countries, that they would reconsider that position,” she mentioned.Thomas-Greenfield was responding to a query on India’s determination to limit wheat exports.
The US envoy mentioned that Ukraine was a breadbasket for the growing world, however “ever since Russia started blocking crucial ports and destroying civilian infrastructure and grain silos, hunger situations in Africa and the Middle East are getting even more dire.“This is a crisis for the whole world, and so it belongs to the UN. We have a responsibility to the millions who are worried about where they’ll find their next meal or how they’ll feed their families. This week is about owning that responsibility and taking action to alleviate food insecurity around the globe,” she mentioned.
The US is President of the UN Security Council for the month of May and can host a signature occasion on meals safety this week in opposition to the backdrop of worldwide conflicts such because the Russia-Ukraine conflict which have introduced meals insecurity to the fore.On May 19, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will preside over an open debate on the ‘Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Conflict and Food Security.’ On the eve of the Security Council assembly, Blinken on Wednesday will chair a world meals safety name to motion ministerial assembly which can deliver collectively officers from dozens of nations to evaluate their pressing humanitarian and growth wants to handle world meals safety, diet and resilience, Thomas-Greenfield mentioned.
“This will include countries with diverse perspectives ranging from major food providers to those facing significant food crises,” she mentioned.Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan, who might be in New York from May 17 to May 20, will take part within the high-level Ministerial Meeting on ‘Global Food Security – Call to Action’ and ship a press release on the UNSC open debate.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had mentioned in a notification final week that wheat exports might be allowed on the idea of permission granted by the Government of India to different nations to satisfy their meals safety wants and based mostly on the request of their governments.India’s wheat exports stood at an all-time excessive of seven million tonnes, valuing USD 2.05 billion, in 2021-22 fiscal yr on higher demand of Indian wheat from abroad. Of the entire wheat exports, round 50 per cent of shipments had been exported to Bangladesh within the final fiscal.
Thomas-Greenfield had mentioned that the open debate will study the nexus between battle and meals safety and the Council will take into account steps wanted to make sure rising meals safety doesn’t drive new conflicts, instability, notably in fragile states.The US on Monday launched a number of days of motion on world meals safety, a problem Thomas-Greenfield mentioned has been a precedence for the Biden administration from day one.
“The hard truth we have to reckon with is that people starve every day all around the world even though we have more than enough food to go around. Worse, many go hungry and don’t know where their next meal will come from because warmongers are intentionally using starvation as a weapon of war.“Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen are just a few examples of places where conflict is driving people to desperate hunger. These days of action are about bringing this crisis to the center of the world’s attention, and this is – this all takes on heightened significance given Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine,” Thomas-Greenfield mentioned.
India has famous with concern that the Ukraine battle is having a destabilising impact with broader regional and world implications.”Oil costs are skyrocketing and there’s scarcity of meals grains and fertilisers. This has had a disproportionate influence on the Global South and growing nations,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti has mentioned.
Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres mentioned in Vienna that he’s “deeply concerned” over starvation turning into widespread in several elements of the world due to the “dramatic food security situation we are facing because of the war in Ukraine.“It is my belief that, independently of many other solutions that deal with the need to keep markets open, to avoid export bans, to do everything to interfere in the markets to keep prices as low as possible.”I do consider that there isn’t a resolution to the issue with out bringing again to the markets the meals manufacturing of Ukraine and the meals and fertiliser manufacturing of the Russian Federation and Belarus,” Guterres had mentioned. P
Source: www.financialexpress.com”