UN food summit vows to relieve world hunger

A UN food summit promised late yesterday to relieve hunger threatening one billion people, but anti-poverty campaigners said rich countries needed to commit to long-term action to boost food output and free up trade.

The three-day Rome summit of 183 countries narrowly avoided an embarrassing failure when some Latin Americans protested at points in the declaration. But it finally committed to “eliminating hunger and to securing food for all, today and tomorrow.”

Delegates and campaigners agreed the summit had succeeded in putting soaring food prices at the top of the global agenda.