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Ban Ki-moon urges setting up task force to deal with rising food prices |
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday ordered setting up a top level task force to deal with the global crisis caused by rising food prices.
He urged key producer nations to end export bans. He also pointed out that the immediate priority must be to "feed the hungry," and called for urgent funding for the World Food Programme (WFP).
In the long-term, the UN chief acknowledged that there is an "urgent necessity to address structural and policy issues that have contributed to this crisis, as well as the challenge posed by climate change."
He added that "further research must be undertaken on the impact of diversion of food crops to bio-fuel production, and all [financial support] to bio-fuels should be reviewed.”
Ban Ki-moon said after a meeting of the heads of 27 key international agencies that the new task force would be led by the UN's top humanitarian official, Deputy Under-Secretary John Holmes.
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