Secretary Clinton's Statement on World Food Day, October 16, 2009
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
October 16, 2009
Please note at 2:30 p.m. ET, Secretary Clinton and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will host a conference call to discuss food security. Journalists interested in joining the conference call should dial: 888-673-9789, passcode: Food Securit.
To learn more about the urgency to fight global hunger, please watch the following video narrated by Matt Damon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TToR_NKg4k
On World Food Day, we join with others to reaffirm our commitment to work to combat one of today’s most critical issues—global hunger. More than one billion people – one sixth of the world’s population—suffer from chronic hunger. This year there are an estimated 105 million more people who are chronically hungry than last year. The world has taken notice. Now we must take action.
Fighting hunger and poverty through sustainable agricultural development—making sure that enough food is available and that people have the resources to purchase it—is a key foreign policy objective of the Obama Administration. Food security is about economic, environmental, and national security for our individual homelands and the entire world.
In the coming years we have a unique opportunity to work with partners around the world to eradicate hunger. Major industrialized nations have committed more than $22 billion over three years to spur agriculture-led economic growth. Our investment in agriculture will complement our commitment to humanitarian aid, which plays a vital role in feeding some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
We understand that efforts to bolster food security will not be a short-term plan, and we are committed to working with our partners across sectors on this issue for the long haul. We also know that, to have the biggest impact, we must work together, and we are committed to doing so. We hope that, in coming years, when we pause to celebrate World Food Day, the global community will be able to look back with pride at all we have accomplished.
For more information, please visit the Department of State’s Global Hunger and Food Security website at http://www.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity/.
PRN: 2009/1025
