CI Times Weekly | Current Issue 254 | 09 June 2008
PM wraps up in Rome – heads for home
The Prime Minister Jim Marurai wrapped up his assignment at the High Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome this week, contributing to the final press conference to the international media at around 10pm on Thursday night (Rome time). The long day of concluding talks was a prelude to a lengthy trip home on what will be a 48-hour non-stop journey from the Italian capital. The Prime Minister is back this weekend.
Marurai was roped into the press conference late in the proceedings, joining FAO Director General Jacques Diouf in making some major announcements to the sceptical media contingent. More than 2,000 media personnel were on hand in Rome to witness Leader after Leader, express their commitments to take action against global hunger. Perhaps the biggest announcement was the influx of fresh money to combat the sweeping food crises around the world. Over US8 billion dollars was pledged to the FAO to take up an action plan, over the course of several years. Unfortunately, that figure is nowhere near the estimated US$30 billion that’s needed to take care of the problems.
The problems are complex and cut across many contentious, political issues. International trade, the environment, and energy are just three of the main areas of debate that impact upon food prices, productivity, and distribution to the poor. The issues are so sticky that the Rome meeting was almost run off the rails in the final stretch when disagreements flared up over one word in the Declaration.
At the final press conference, Marurai said the global gathering reinforced the value with which the Cook Islands maintains its cooperative links with the FAO, and other agencies in the region. The Cook Islands remained vulnerable to a number of factors he said although it was clear that the country was not in the same dire straits as many in the developing world.
