UAE seeks global efforts for food security

dubai - The number of malnourished people in the world grew from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016

Food security is a global concern and it requires international cooperation both from the public and private sectors as the population increases worldwide, said a UAE minister on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Food Security Forum 2018, Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Future Food Security, said food security is a global challenge and the reality is that despite all the progress human society has made, hunger, drought and devastating famine remain prevalent threats to humanity.

She said the number of malnourished people in the world grew from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016.

Aleksandr Tkachyov, Russian Minister of Agriculture, Okello Oryem, Uganda's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Vice-President of the Federation of the UAE Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) and chairman of the Sharjah Chamber, also addressed the forum held on the sidelines of Gulfood 2018 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

"Food is the basic need of human beings. It is an issue that requires international cooperation from all stakeholders. This is where globalisation can be a highly effective instrument through more cross-border trade. This requires many initiatives, including ease of doing business, removal of technical barriers, empowering the private sector and creation of an attractive business environment to achieve the target of global food security.

"In the UAE, we support fluent movement of agriculture products to different parts of the world as our world-class infrastructure and advanced technology offer producers and buyers an opportunity to handle logistics in the value chain," Mariam said.

She called for embracing advanced and innovative technologies in promoting sustainable food for the current population and the generations to come.

Uganda's minister Oryem called on UAE firms to invest in the African country as the government provides all the necessary incentives for food packing, production and exports and also allows full repatriation of profits to foreign investors.

Russian minister Tkachyov said Mena is the top priority for Russian agriculture exports as the region imports around $100 billion worth of products per annum.

"Russian products are low-cost and we are trying to be competitive not only by price but on quality also. Russia has ecologically clean products with high quality as we don't grow genetically modified products. Russia will soon be a leading organic products producer," Tkachyov said.

- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com