The World Bank said on Thursday it was speeding up its aid to help overcome the global food crisis with a “rapid reaction facility” of US$1.2 billion in grants and loans.
To deal with immediate and long-term food problems, the bank said it would increase its overa all support for agriculture and food aid to US$6 billion next year, up from US$4 billion this year.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that as the international community heads into a major UN summit in Rome next week to address the global food crisis, “there is a need for a clear action plan” because “higher food prices are driving people and countries into danger.”
Zoellick said aid should be provided to handle immediate humanitarian needs such as seeing that pregnant women receive proper nutrition and that children at school are fed.
He said longer-term help should go to small farmers to include seed and fertilizer for the next planting season so they can increase their harvests.
“These initiatives will help address the immediate danger of hunger and malnutrition for the 2 billion people struggling to survive in the face of rising food prices and contribute to a longer-term solution that must involve many countries and institutions,” he said.
High oil prices, changing diets, urbanization, expanding populations, flawed trade policies, extreme weather, growth in biofuel production and speculation have sent food prices soaring worldwide. This has touched off food riots from Africa to Asia and raised fears that uncounted millions will suffer malnutrition.
Zoellick said the bank’s US$1.2 billion in new money, called a “rapid reaction facility,” included US$200 million aimed at vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries.
“The idea is to immediately respond to the human needs of the present crisis by scaling up what we do” instead of taking four to six months to approve a project, he said.
He said the bank’s board was approving grants on Thursday to Djibouti (US$5 million), Haiti (US$10 million) and Liberia (US$10 million).
In the next week grant support would be provided Togo, Yemen and Tajikistan, he said.
The bank said these countries are being given high priority based on rapid needs assessments undertaken in the field with the UN World Food Programme, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Zoellick said rapid needs assessments have been completed in more than 25 countries, with another 15 under way.
He also asked governments of developed countries not to impose export restrictions or tariffs on food that could be funneled to relief agencies or countries facing severe food shortages.
Zoellick said taxes and bans were “exacerbating the problem.”
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS