Warning that escalating food and fuel prices could lead to disaster, a group of developing Muslim nations called yesterday for urgent measures to lift food and oil output and a rethink on biofuels.
Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s largest producers of palm oil, told a one-day summit of eight developing Muslim-majority countries, that they wanted to see an end to the conversion of arable land for biofuel production.
Leaders of the Developing Eight (D8) countries —- Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh — said the twin problems of food and energy security were putting a severe strain on their countries.
“We must act on it once and in concert. To delay action on this great challenge of our time is to court disaster,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the meeting before leaving for the G8 summit in Japan.
Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for boosting world food production and finding a permanent solution to skyrocketing oil prices.
RSS