Dhaka calls for establishing global

Bangladesh has called for establishing a global food bank and an international food fund within the auspices of the United Nations to ensure long-term food security for developing countries, particularly for the least developed countries. Ismat Jahan, ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, made the proposal while addressing a high-level segment of the Sustentative Sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council in Washington on Wednesday. She was speaking on behalf of the LDCs on the theme ‘promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development,’ according to a message received in Dhaka. Ismat Jahan expressed deep concern that the deepening global economic slowdown, soaring oil and food prices and the growing threats of climate change posed significant challenges to the development prospects of the developing countries, particularly those of the LDCs. She stressed the need for undertaking an in-depth inter-governmental policy discussions on how the current global challenges could be best addressed in an integrated manner. She urged the UN to take a lead role in this regard. The ambassador also expressed her concern that over the years, Official Development Assistance and Foreign Direct Investment to the agricultural sector in the LDCs had drastically reduced. She called upon the developed countries to fulfil their ODA commitment of 0.2 per cent of their GNI to LDCs by 2010 as agreed during the 3rd UN Conference on LDCs in 2001. Ismat Jahan urged the donors to give ODA as direct budgetary support to LDCs in a predictable and flexible manner. She urged the developed and the developing countries in a position to do so to provide duty-free and quota-free market access to all products from all LDCs, unilaterally and without discriminations, even before the conclusion of the Doha Round.