$500 Million Offer To Deal With Food Crisis

Ban Ki-Moon Hails $500 Million Offer By Saudi Arabia To Deal With Food Crisis

New York, May 23 2008 2:00PM

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed Saudi Arabia’s landmark offer to contribute $500 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help with efforts to combat the global food crisis.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson today, Mr. Ban said the offer, made under the guidance of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, means the WFP has achieved its target of $755 million to deal with the recent surge in food and fuel costs.

“The Secretary-General notes that this contribution of an unprecedented size and generosity comes not a moment too soon, given the needs of millions of people dependent on food rations,” the statement added.

Earlier this month the UN relief chief, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, announced that $100 million is being reserved from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to tackle the immediate issues stemming from the food crisis.

Next month the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will host a major summit at its Rome headquarters to discuss how agriculture can be harnessed to produce enough food to meet the demands of the world’s growing population.

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