By IANS,
New Delhi: The agriculture ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China – the BRIC nations – met in Moscow Friday and signed the Moscow Declaration, which seeks to enhance cooperation in agriculture and allied activities so as raise living standards in their countries and contribute to global food security.
The declaration agrees “on broad contours of quadrilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector with particular attention to family farming, the development of which will not only help long-term interests of the four states but contribute towards global food security.”
It was signed by Brazil’s Agrarian Development Minister Guilherme Cassel, Russian Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik, India’s Agriculture, Food & Public Distribution Minister Sharad Pawar and Chinese Agriculture Minister Han Changfu.
“Reiterating our support to the initiatives taken at international level, such as World Food Summit in Rome, we intend to develop effective and comprehensive measures for development of agriculture in BRIC countries through close cooperation and coordination in the field of agriculture and allied activities,” the declaration said.
“Realising the need for ensuring food security at the global level and addressing the challenge of ensuring stable and sufficient production of basic food grains, to raise living standard, to provide steady and inclusive development of rural areas, to increase efficiency of small and medium sized agro-industrial units and productivity of family farms, there is a need for more intensive cooperation among BRIC countries through the exchange of experience, coordinated action and implementation of joint projects wherever possible and in the interest of the four countries,” it said.
“Ensuring food security requires a well-functioning world market and trade system for food and agriculture based on the principles of fairness and non-discrimination. In this regard, it is of paramount importance to accelerate the Doha round of talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO),” it added.
The declaration also cited the BRIC countries’ joint ministerial statement on global food security, adopted at the summit in Yekaterinburg (Russia) on June 16 last year, which “considered the issue of global food security and resolved to address the problem of food production and hunger without delay in a comprehensive manner through resolute action by governments and relevant international agencies.”
The declaration said the summit considered the creation of agricultural information base system of the BRIC countries, development of a general strategy for ensuring access to food for the most vulnerable population, reduction of negative impact of climate change on food security and adaptation of agriculture to climatic changes and enhancement of agricultural technology cooperation and innovation as priorities in order to realise the broad objectives.