Hillary Clinton and Ban Ki-moon Talk Food

Sep 29th, 2009 7:35 PM UTC
By A.M.

After a week that included the UN General Assembly, the G20 in Pittsburgh, and the Clinton Global Initiative, many world leaders remained in New York City for one more day. It was to talk Food Security with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

It was a Saturday, and it had already been a long week, but the energy in the room was bouncing off the walls. High-level international stakeholders, senior US Government officials, heads of major NGOs, and reporters filled the room with chatter about the importance and significance of this global effort – Partnering for Food Security. I sat next to Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. Rajiv Shah, Under Secretary of Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture made his way around the room, inspiring an already eager audience.

The discussion started with Secretary Clinton previewing a short video narrated by Matt Damon on Food Security. Silence followed, and the purpose of the meeting became that much more real. The challenge that faces us is here – global food supplies must increase by an estimated 50 percent to meet expected demand in the next 20 years.

After opening remarks by Secretary Clinton and Secretary-General Ban, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda spoke about the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh followed with a conversation on the impacts of climate change on agricultural development in her country. Many more continued the dialogue, including:

Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ivan Lewis, UK
Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil
Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Powell, Ireland
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, Republic of Senegal
Minister of International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden
Executive Director Josette Sheeran, World Food Programme
Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith, Australia
Managing Director Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Bank
Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan
Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Karel de Gucht, EU Commission
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President, Global Development Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincenzo Scotti, Italy

Secretary Clinton closed the meeting with the 5 principles for advancing global food security – (1) comprehensively address the underlying causes of hunger and under-nutrition; (2) invest in country-led plans; (3) strengthen strategic coordination; (4) leverage the benefits of multilateral institutions; and (5) make sustained and accountable commitments. She noted that hunger is a problem we can create real long term solutions to, we haven’t, and this could be the beginning. And with this meeting, the Secretary-General’s High Level Task Force will now help implement and monitor this new initiative. Partnerships are becoming real, the initiative is becoming defined, and the opportunity to end hunger is upon us.

-Arjun Mody

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