UK to host international food security summit in November

LONDON

The UK will host an international summit on food security in November, vowing to increase support for vulnerable people worst hit by rising food prices, the government announced on Friday.

The international food security summit is expected to bring countries together in a bid to address the food security at a time when Russia has suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The deal which was providing a lifeline for millions of people around the world enabled the transportation of 33 million tons of food to 45 countries around the world, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

"Russia’s sudden withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and the consequent spike in global food prices, will cost lives around the world – further destabilising economies and putting people at risk of starvation," it added.

Saying that Russia has damaged at least 26 civilian port facilities, warehouses, silos and grain elevators in Ukraine, the statement recalled that Ukraine was the world’s 5th largest wheat exporter, 4th largest corn exporter and 3rd largest rapeseed exporter before the beginning of the war in February 2022.

"Once again, Vladimir Putin is failing to show his face at the G20. He is the architect of his own diplomatic exile, isolating himself in his presidential palace and blocking out criticism and reality," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said ahead of the G-20 Summit in India.

Sunak said the blockade of and attacks on Ukrainian grain would be among top agenda items for G-20 countries during the summit that will take place on Sept. 8-9.

On July 17, Moscow suspended its participation in the deal, brokered by Türkiye and the UN, to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that were paused after the Ukraine war in February 2022.

Moscow has repeatedly complained that the West has not met its obligations under the deal and that there are restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance on shipments of its own food and fertilizer exports.