By Prensa Latina,
Rome : Cuba decried on Thursday the Declaration of the Rome Summit on Food Security, describing it as “the result of the lack of political will of the countries of the North” to promote a fair, lasting solution to the issue.Latin America United on Rome Declaration
The United States, the only country opposing the right to food, was the main responsible for dashing the hopes the international community had harboured on this conference, the Cuban delegation said.
Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Orlando Requeijo, stressed that the text lacks a fairly objective diagnosis of essential causes of hunger in the world.
“The responsibility of industrializad powers is evident in this unacceptable state of things,” he said, after referring to the strategy of turning grains and cereals into fuel and the impact of farm subsidies.
Requeijo also referred to the effect of production and consumption patterns of the North on climate change and the consequences of financial speculation on the increase of food prices.
Cuba cannot be silent to become an accomplice of a demagogical and opportunist representation such as this. Lack of action and omission in the fulfilment of duty (…) will not save the lives and dignity of 862 million hungry people in the world, he stressed.
He affirmed, however, that the Caribbean island will not reject consensus and at the same time he reiterated its support to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and to its director general, Jacques Diouf.