ROME: Italy announced Friday plans to hold a G8 agriculture summit with six emerging economies in April to find ways of beating the global food crisis.
The Italian government proposes to hold a big G8 meeting on agriculture and farm output at a time when the world experiences a serious food crisis with nearly one billion people suffering from hunger, Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said.
Italy took over the rotating presidency of the Group of Eight this month.
The summit will be held in the northern region of Treviso and be attended by the agriculture ministers of the G8 members: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The emerging economies to be invited are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico and South Africa.
Others attending will include the agriculture minister of the Czech Republic, which currently heads the European Union, EU Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer Boel as well as representatives from the United Nations and the World Bank.
The aim of the meeting will be to minimize the impact of the food shortages and ways to increase productivity in developing countries and reinforce rural areas, according to a government document.
Zaia also said he would take steps to protect Italian farm produce.
Nowadays, out of 10 Made in Italy products bought on the international market, only one is made in the peninsula, he said, citing cases of fake Parmesan cheese and Prosecco, a dry sparkling wine made from grapes grown mainly in the Veneto region. -AFP
