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Press
Release 5 June 2000
World Food Programme hosts meeting
with SAARC member countries on role of
food assistance (5-6 June, 2000, Kathmandu) Senior
bureaucrats of all the member countries of SAARC (South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation) are meeting at Kathmandu on 5th and 6th
of June to discuss issues related to food security. This meeting has been
triggered off by a World Food Programme initiative to bring out a book called
"Enabling development- the role of food assistance in South Asia".
This book is being prepared in the context of the World Food Summit in 1996,
where SAARC countries had committed themselves to reducing the number of
undernourished people to half their present level by 2015. Accounting for a
third of the hungry people in the world, this region requires concerted
efforts to meet the challenge. This
publication will take stock of the current situation of hunger and
malnutrition and examine the options of dealing with food security through
food. Dwelling on the paradox of Asia, the book highlights the existing
anomalies of food production, availability problems of real access and
utilization in this region. The book offers both short and long-term
solutions to hunger through food based assistance programmes. Identifying the
food insecure areas and people is the key element for increasing
effectiveness and therefore the book will be complemented with poster maps
that highlight key messages such as "situation of the hungry poor".
Development experts and senior government representatives participating in
this important meeting will provide their views on how the issues raised in
the book can influence programmes and policy in their countries and how to
strengthen collective self reliance. Mr.
M.D. Asthana, Principal Advisor, Planning Commission and Mr. B.K. Bal, Joint
Secretary, International Cooperation, Department of Food and Public
Distribution will participate in the Advisory Committee Meeting.
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