JakartaPost-Aug 31
As the world grapples with a food insecurity problem induced by rising geopolitical tension and COVID-19, Indonesia, which is expected to take over the ASEAN leadership next year, is proposing that countries within the grouping set up a kind of region-wide food bank. Speaking at a public lecture in the Rajaratnam School of International Studies on Monday evening, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that the regional grouping needs to have a funding mechanism that will allow the shipment of basic food staples like rice from one country to another in the event of a food scarcity problem in some parts of the region. “How much can each country allocate stock for their ASEAN partners, for countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam? Also we need to set up a funding mechanism to move the stock to countries that need it the most,” the senior economic minister told the audience. Airlangga also said that the same mechanism has been proposed by Indonesia in context with the Group of Twenties (G20). “We also use this model for the G20 meeting for food security on commodities like wheat. We need to have a multinational financing and funding that is available to source the food,” Airlangga said. In July, during a meeting of finance ministers and central bank leaders, countries in the G20 failed to reach a consensus on the global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is threatening to leave millions at risk of hunger. Data from the World Food Program indicates that 323 million people around the world face severe food insecurity this year, twice the number before COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Following the food price crisis in 2008, ASEAN has stepped up to cooperate among member states to ensure long-term food security in the region. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/08/30/ri-proposes-asean-food-bank-to-deal-with-food-insecurity.html
