THE PROBLEM of global hunger could be solved within a few years if there was a political will to do so, Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said yesterday.
He said seemingly intractable problems, such as the US-Russia nuclear arms race, had been resolved when world leaders worked together.
Mr Power said he believed global hunger would be eliminated. “It would be morally unacceptable if we don’t address this issue. Nobody in the world, not least in Ireland, can enjoy the relative wealth that we have . . . when children are not being fed.”
Mr Power was speaking after he welcomed more than 200 representatives from aid agencies, farmer groups, fishing communities and UN and government agencies to a two-day conference in Malahide, Dublin, to identify ways of tackling the global hunger crisis. It was organised by Irish Aid – the Government’s programme for overseas development, with Concern and the UN high-level taskforce on global food security.
Concern chief executive Tom Arnold told the conference the hunger crisis would never be solved by governments alone. “Governments, civil society groups and the private sector must find new and better ways of working together if hunger is to be defeated,” Mr Arnold said.
Mr Power told the conference Ireland was working with the US to build a partnership to reduce world hunger. In September, the US and Ireland will co-host an event at the Millennium Development Goals summit in New York.
