VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, during a meeting under the German G7 Presidency on Friday, called on the world to unite to restore the global food supply chain.

Marsudi, who co-chaired the Ministerial Conference on Uniting for Global Food Security together with foreign affairs ministers from Germany, France, the United States, and Senegal, said that war was always a humanitarian tragedy. 

Moreover, the impacts of war were not limited to just one region, she said in a statement on Sunday.

The ongoing war has destroyed the global food system chain that had previously been weakened by the pandemic and climate change, she said.

"In this difficult time, the world has no other choice but uniting to restore the global food resilience," she remarked.

Concerning this issue, the minister outlined two important matters that have to be done in the short term.

First, the world cannot give up in finding a peaceful solution in Ukraine by continuing to uphold international law.

"This war must be stopped immediately, and all parties should contribute to this cause," she said.

Second, the world should immediately restore the global food and fertilizer supply chain which has been disrupted by the war.

If the world fails in handling fertilizer crisis, this will result in rice crisis that concerns the fate of more than two billion population in the world, she said.

An effective solution toward this food crisis is by reintegrating Ukrainian food production as well as Russian food and fertilizer production, regardless of war.

"A grain corridor from Ukraine needs to be secured and food as well as fertilizer export from Russia should be opened. All countries should restrain themselves from actions that exacerbate this food crisis," Marsudi said.

Moreover, the world needs to collaborate to encourage investment that can boost agriculture productivity, diversify food production and import, and pushes non-discriminative agriculture product trade.

At the end of her statement during the conference attended by representatives from more than 25 countries, she underlined that the world is now racing against time to immediately handle the global food crisis.

Ministerial Conference on Uniting for Global Food Security is a meeting initiated by Germany which assumes the G7 Presidency in 2022.

The meeting was attended by foreign affairs ministers, agriculture ministers, and development ministers from various G7 countries, Champions of Global Crisis and Response Group member countries, as well as few donor countries and international organization representatives. (antaranews)