A TASKFORCE set up by the Government to identify how Ireland can best contribute to efforts to alleviate global hunger will launch its report on the fringes of the UN general assembly next week.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power will join members of the Hunger Taskforce, including Bono and economist Jeffrey Sachs, at the launch at UN headquarters in New York.
The taskforce, which was called for in the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid, draws together 15 Irish and international experts to recommend measures aimed at strengthening and refocusing the State’s aid programmes and partnerships to address food insecurity, particularly in Africa. It will also suggest ways in which Ireland can take a leadership role in global advocacy on the issue.
Chaired by former minister for agriculture Joe Walsh, the taskforce has met several times – in Cork, Dublin and Malawi. At an early stage, the taskforce decided to focus on ways of increasing agricultural productivity as well as improving nutrition.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the report’s launch on Thursday, September 25th, the same day he convenes a meeting of world leaders and civil society representatives to assess progress on meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In April Mr Ban warned that “soaring food prices and slowing global growth are seriously undermining progress to achieve the MDGs”.