Food security, Moldova in focus at annual G7 foreign minister meeting

WEISENHAUS Foreign ministers from the G7-rich group will discuss how to ease food security concerns as they met in Germany yesterday as fears grow that a war between Russia and Ukraine could further destabilise Moldova.

The annual meeting, which lasts until today, brings together top diplomats from Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the United States and the European Union, to the Weissenhaus resort on the Baltic Sea.

The talks will be dominated by Ukraine and how to deal with the consequences of the conflict, which may drag on for months, if not more.

The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Moldova were due to arrive yesterday, and the most industrialised Western countries will reaffirm their support for the two countries.

The war in Ukraine has led to rising global prices for grain, oil, fuel and fertilizers, and United Nations agencies warn that rising prices will exacerbate the food crisis, particularly in Africa.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February disrupted shipping in the Black Sea, the main route for grain and other goods, halting exports from Ukraine and Russia.

“25 million tons of grain are currently blocked in the Ukrainian port of Odessa, which is food for millions of people in the world, which is urgently needed, especially in African countries and the Middle East,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok.

“So today we are giving a clear signal: we see, hear and support you,” she said.

Diplomatic sources said the goal was for the seven countries to better organise themselves to find quick and effective responses to the food crisis.

While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will not have time due to the COVID-19 infection, the remaining ministers will seek to reassure Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova.

He is struggling to cope with the influx of refugees from his neighbour, but incidents involving pro-russian separatists in recent weeks in the separatist region of Transnistria have raised international concern that Russia’s war in Ukraine could spill over.