Torres Small: US pushed hard for G20 Ukraine statement
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Torres Small
| Returning from a G20 Agriculture ministers meeting in India, Xochitl Torres Small, the agriculture undersecretary for rural development who is also President Biden’s nominee for agriculture deputy secretary, said today that the U.S. delegation pushed hard for a statement in the communique condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stressing the importance of the Black Sea Initiative to move Ukrainian grain into world markets. In a call to reporters after returning from Hyderabad, India, where the meeting was held, Torres Small said the Ukraine provisions were “important to the United States … a priority” even though Russia and China did not agree to those sections of the document. Torres Small noted that there had been similar statements in last year’s communique at the end of a meeting in Bali, which also did not receive full consensus. On the eve of Indian President Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, Torres Small also said that the Indian presidency of the G20 “was incredibly helpful and very responsive in trying to reach consensus. Everyone agreed, India worked very hard.” “The war in Ukraine has further adversely impacted the global economy,” the G20 communique says. “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing frailties in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.” |
| The communique added, “We underline the importance of full, timely, improved and continued implementation by all relevant stakeholders of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and the UN Secretariat, that was brokered by Turkey and the UN on 22 July 2022 as a package, to reduce global food insecurity and to enable unimpeded flows of more food and fertilizers to developing countries in need.” But the communique also noted that Russia “disassociated” itself from these statements, and China stated that the meeting outcome should not include any reference to the Ukraine crisis. Torres Small noted that the communique emphasized the American priorities of high-level investments, innovation and climate-smart agriculture and “appropriate” food aid. Torres Small said the communique was the first time that G20 agriculture ministers spoke with one voice to address world hunger and food insecurity, and added this was important because farmers’ voices are often left out in discussions of hunger. It is important, Torres Small said, to make sure farmers get their fair share of the value of agricultural production. |
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