The announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron follows a pledge by G8 countries at a NATO summit last week to step up efforts in fighting global hunger
p>LONDON (AlertNet) – The UK will hold an international food security summit during the Olympic games in London this summer, British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced in a statement to the House of Commons.“For countries to receive help they need to show a real commitment to transparency and good governance,” Cameron said in the statement. “And in return they get substantial support to generate private-sector investment in food production,” he added.
“This is a great combination of promoting good governance and helping Africa to feed its people.”
Details of the summit have not yet been released.
In the statement, Cameron highlighted the importance of creating jobs as one of the best routes to sustainable growth in poorer countries, but he also stressed the vital role still played by foreign aid.
“For the first time in a decade the amount of aid given by the world’s richest countries to the world’s poorest countries has fallen back,” Cameron said. “Promises are being broken. This is wrong.”
Save the Children’s Chief Executive Justin Forsyth welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement, saying that "the Olympics offer a unique opportunity to leave a global legacy beyond sport.”
“By galvanising other world leaders, the private sector, charities, and the public, the Prime Minister can help save millions of children's lives, who are currently facing a daily battle with hunger,” Forsyth added.
Cameron also welcomed the creation this month, at the Chicago Council Symposium in Washington D.C., of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
The partnership between G8 leaders, African countries and the private sector aims to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next ten years through agricultural growth.
The creation of the alliance came after eight of the world’s wealthiest nations pledged to step up efforts in fighting hunger and malnutrition at last week’s G8 summit in the United States.
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