Niigata hosts APEC food security conference.

15/10 Tass 207

NIIGATA (Japan), October 15 (Itar-Tass) -- A conference of agriculture
ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states
opened in Japan's Niigata on Friday.
Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik heads the Russian delegation to
the forum.
Participants in the conference will focus on plans for cooperation and
pressing aspects of the regional food security.
In the words of the meeting organisers, the global food security faces
new difficulties.
According to their estimates, it necessary to increase food production
by 70 percent in order to feed the earth population, which is expected to
exceed nine billion by 2050.
In spite of the food shortage downward tendency in the region, the
problem has caused massive protests in some countries in the recent years
and still remains one of the most acute ones.
Resolution of the problem is hindered by the region's frequent natural
calamities, including tsunamis, floods and droughts, the organisers of the
forum said.
At the same time, APEC in general has sufficient potential for
improving the situation, as it embraces the world leading participants in
the grain market (both importers and exporters), while the Asia-Pacific
region's annual grain harvest is at about 50 percent of the global grain
production, the experts said.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organisation holds the
ministerial meeting on the issue for the first time. Its results will be
summed up on Sunday, October 17.
APEC unites 21 countries of the Asia-Pacific region , including
Russia, China, the United States, South Korea and Japan. More than 50
percent of the global GDP and 44 percent of the world trade are accounted
for them.
Russia has participated in the forum since 1997. For the first time,
Russia will host the APEC summit on the Russky Island in Vladivostok in
2012.
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