The Summit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome closes, but the phrase "hunger continues" may well summarize the three-day meet dedicated to discuss that scourge as it closes with less commitments and the absence of the 44 billion dollars needed annually to fight it.
FAO has requested the multimillion figure for annual investments and put an end to what Cuba rated as embarrassment that should blush the rich in the North.It is a little amount compared to the trillion dollars or euros spent in wars, agricultural subsidies and the so called "rescue measures" at the expense of States to get banks affected by the financial crisis back on their feet, according to FAO Director General Jacques Diouf.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI pointed out selfishness is shameful. "There are models marked by the lack of solidarity, which should inspire the solution of these problems," he added.
"A meeting like this one cannot solve world hunger, but we certainly hoped for much more," said Gwain Kripke, spokesman of NGO Oxfam International.
"The result is not commensurable with the problem one billion people are facing. The almost total absence of leaders from rich nations sent a deplorable message," Kripke sustained.
Diouf himself expressed dissatisfaction. "It is not a problem of lack of resources but priorities. There are statements, commitments, signs of action, but no action at all," he stated.
With direct, precise speeches, Latin America and the Caribbean appeared as one of the regions which has achieved better results in fighting hunger, with praises for initiatives by Brazil and ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America).
In addition, Paraguay and Cuba blamed rich countries for that scourge, and asked for immediate actions to meet the demands of the poor.
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and the Cuban Vice President of the Council of Minister, Ulises Rosales del Toro, stressed the causes of the problem.
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