SELA to analyze food crisis from Latin American and Caribbean perspective

Caracas, 26 May 2008.– Delegates and representatives of the Member States of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) will meet on Friday 30 May in Caracas to analyze the food crisis from the Latin American and Caribbean perspective, its probable impact and the possible responses at the regional level to face it.

This High-Level Regional Meeting on Food Security, organized by SELA and schedules to be held in its headquarters, is aimed at coordinating possible common positions for Latin America and the Caribbean ahead of the FAO’s “High-Level Conference on World Food Security and Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy”, to be held from 3 to 5 June 2008 in Rome, under the auspices of that organization of the United Nations System.

The meeting in SELA also envisages the definition of possible lines of action to set up a Regional Cooperation Food Security Programme in LAC, coordinated by SELA along with other regional and multilateral organizations, to be approved by the Member States of the organization in the forthcoming Latin American Council in November of this year.

Among SELA’s purposes are to promote a consultation and coordination system for the adoption of common positions and strategies on economic and social issues, and to foster intra-regional cooperation among its Member States.

In this connection, it is fair and necessary for SELA to hold an urgent, high-level meeting to analyze and exchange views, and to propose actions with a Latin American and Caribbean scope aimed at facing the current global food crisis through regional cooperation mechanisms.

The meeting will analyze the document titled “The increase in food prices: SELA’s response”, prepared by the Permanent Secretariat. The document on the current food crisis contains a diagnosis of the crisis, an analysis on the nature of the main responses implemented so far to face it, and some general ideas which could provide a basis for the Regional Food Security Cooperation Programme.

Representatives from various international organizations have confirmed their participation in this SELA meeting, such as the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); and the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA).
 

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