Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al Mashat joined a high level virtual panel on the significance of international developmental cooperation to face the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on the agricultural sector and food security. The panel was organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where the opening speech was delivered by IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo with 80 attendees from 19 states, including 10 ministers and 10 deputy ministers from the Near East, North Africa and Europe, as well as Central Asia, in addition to representatives from UN agencies World Food Program (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO). This comes in light of warnings by the UN on how the coronavirus pandemic could lead to a surge in global hunger, as the WFP estimated that the number of people that will be exposed to food insecurity could double to reach 265 million in 2020. In the panel, Dr. Al Mashat noted that “food security is not just important today at the national level, but for the entire globe, which necessitates that each national narrative and each national policy adds up,” so as to protect livelihoods….
Food Security Today Is Not Just For Local Population, But For the Globe: Minister Rania Al Mashat
April 21, 2020
