Says Mirza Aziz

Staff Correspondent

Global price hikes and climate change add urgency to effective regional cooperation to meet threats to food security, said finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam at a BIMSTEC meeting on Tuesday.

Global price hikes of food, fuel and fertiliser are hurting the world's poor most, the adviser said, addressing the meeting of senior officials at the Sonargaon Hotel ahead of the ministerial conference on poverty alleviation.
 
Their minimum food requirement is under serious threat as they have no savings to fall back on,he said.
 
"The global scenario that has emerged in recent times has become highly unfavourable for the poor."
 
"The dramatic increases in the prices of food grains, fuel and fertiliser have given rise to inflation which hurts the poor most," the finance adviser said.
 
"They are net purchasers of food. Their capacity to meet minimal food requirements is severely constrained as they have hardly any savings to draw on."
 
Mirza Aziz said climate change was also posing a threat to food security.
 
"The sheer availability of food is under strain, in part, because of the impact of climate change to which member countries of BIMSTEC have contributed little."
 
The adviser said the global price hikes and climate change add urgency to effective regional cooperation to meet the threat to food security.
 
"We at the senior officials meeting will finalise the agenda for the ministerial conference tomorrow (Wednesday). We will discuss climate change, health, education, small and medium enterprises, food security and others," Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, secretary to the ministry of planning and president of the meeting, told bdnews24.com.
 
Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will inaugurate the ministerial conference Wednesday.
 
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the members of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) established in 1997 in Bangkok.

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