Leaders agree to operate food bank

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South Asian heads of state agreed Sunday to begin operating the SAARC Food Bank, to guarantee food security in the region in view of the global food crisis and price hike of grains, report bdnews24.com/UNB.

The leaders of the 8-member regional grouping issued a 'SAARC Statement on Food Security', after the conclusion of the two-day 15th SAARC summit in Colombo.

Member countries stressed the need to set the food bank in motion, and agreed to increase food production through regional cooperation.

They also agreed to hold a special meeting of agricultural ministers in November in New Delhi this year, with a view to fixing up strategies to confront the food crisis regionally.

The New Delhi meeting will share the best practices of agricultural distribution, procurement and agricultural research thoughout the SAARC region.

The meeting will also find ways for the management of the climatic and disease-related risks in agriculture in the region.

The Colombo summit also stressed working with the international community to ensure food and nutrition security in the South Asian region.

The Colombo summit issued the separate statement on food fecurity as all the leaders in their addresses identified food crisis as one of the challenges of the SAARC countries.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in his speech laid special focus on food security as Bangladesh struggled to import enough food grains after two floods and a severe cyclone hit the country in 2007.

The SAARC Statement on Food Security urged: "We direct that the SAARC Food Bank be urgently operationalised. We also emphasise early drawing up of the SAARC Agriculture Perspective 2020."

The head of the states added: "We affirm our resolve to ensure region-wide food security and make South Asia, once again, the granary of the world."

India proposed setting up a SAARC food bank at the 13th SAARC summit, to face food crisis in the region. Only four member countries have ratified the idea so far since the 13th summit in Dhaka in 2005.

The two-day 15th SAARC Summit Sunday adopted a 41-point Colombo Declaration articulating commitments of the South Asian leaders to implement the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in its letter and spirit through issuing directives for removing trade barriers and giving special consideration to LDCs in the bloc.

In the communiqu