The Group of Seven (G7) rich democratic States have pledged up to $5 billion to improve global food security. According to a senior United States official, this is in line with response by the group to concerns in developing countries about the threat of hunger caused by the Ukraine conflict.
The statement was confirmed at the G7 summit held in Germany from June 26-28, 2022.
On the final day of the G7 summit in Germany, the official noted that the United States would provide more than half of that amount, which would go to efforts to combat hunger in 47 countries and to fund Regional Organizations.
The G7 is attempting to rally emerging countries, many of which have close ties to Russia, to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The group has however, invited five major middle-and-low-income democracies to the summit in order to win them over.
Some developing nations, themselves former victims of Western colonialism see Western complaints about Ukraine as self-serving and are more concerned about the impact of soaring food prices on their populations.
Others blame Western sanctions, not Russia’s invasion of one of the world’s largest grain producers and blockade of its ports, for the shortages.
“Putin’s actions have been at the core and the thing from which you can draw a direct line to all of the vulnerability that we’re seeing around the world in terms of food security,” the official said.
“His actions have strangled food and agricultural production and have used food as a weapon of war through the destruction of agricultural storage, processing facilities, and the effective blockade of the Black Sea ports,” he added.
According to the US official, about US$2 billion of the commitment would go to direct humanitarian interventions, with another US$760 million going to “food assistance” to “enhance the resilience and productivity of food systems around the world.”
Separately, the leaders agreed to take a more coordinated approach to challenge China’s “market-distorting” practices in global trade. They also pledged to work to remove forced labour, including state-backed forced labour, from global supply chains.
The G7 was set up in 1975 as an informal forum bringing together the leaders of the world’s leading industrial nations. The annual G7 summits have over the years developed into a platform for determining the course of multilateral discourse and shaping political responses to global challenges.