BRIC ministers sign food security declaration

Agriculture ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) on Friday signed a global food security declaration in Moscow. The countries also agreed to pool resources to combat famine that affects more than a billion people globally, the Voice of Russia reported.
 
The declaration was signed by Brazil's agrarian development minister Guilherme Cassel, Russian agriculture minister Elena Skrynnik, Indian agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Chinese agriculture minister Han Changfu.

The Moscow summit, which was held on 25-27 March, is the successor of last year's BRIC forum held in Yekaterinburg, which discussed multilateral cooperation.

"Our partnership in this forum must be anchored in the fundamental principles of equality, mutual trust and common good," the ANI reported Pawar as saying at the meeting.

"We must strive to work out common approaches and strategies on pressing global issues such as food security, impact of climate change on agriculture, energy security, pandemics and other related subjects," he added.

The ministers in a joint statement said they consider famine as a serious threat to humanity and resolved to address the problem of food production and hunger through resolute action by governments and relevant international agencies.

The ministers also agreed on 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 also contribute towards global food security.