Financial crisis no excuse for inaction in battle against hunger: Annan

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned that the global financial crisis cannot be used as “an excuse for inaction” in the worsening battle against “wrenching hunger” across the developing world.

Speaking in Dublin at a major international conference hosted by Concern Worldwide to mark World Food Day, Mr Annan urged political leaders to maintain their resolve to ending a situation where nearly one billion of the world’s population do not have enough food to eat.

More than 200 Irish and international policy-makers and influential figures drawn from government, business, academia and major NGOs are attending the conference at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, Dublin.

They heard Mr Annan, who founded the UN Hunger Task Force and now chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), call governments to task over their slow response to the problem of global hunger in comparison to the swift reaction to the current financial turmoil.

“The food crisis of recent months is now compounded by a global financial crisis. While national governments and international lenders scramble to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into failing banks – the developing world goes hungry….this is simply unacceptable. We must do something to stop it.”