July 1, 2013, (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, has said that 239 million Africans are malnourished and announced his country’s commitment to engage in a strategic partnership for agricultural production and developing agro-industry to provide food for Africa.

Bashir returned from Addis Ababa on Monday after taking part in a high level meeting of African and international leaders on ending hunger in Africa.

In his speech at the meeting, Bashir declared Sudan’s support for the initiative put forward by the African Union (AU), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Brazilian Lula Institute (LI) to end hunger in Africa, alluding to war as a cause for poverty, waste of resources, hunger and deprivation.

He pointed to the importance of promoting initiatives under the umbrella of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in order to achieve food security and facilitate movement of goods and people across borders, saying that peace and development are two faces of the same coin.

Bashir further said that the meeting was a step in the right direction to end hunger through developing programs which aims at boosting agricultural production and finding ways for grain storage.

He went on to describe hunger as a disgrace to the international community and called for the unification of Africa’s will and voice to engage in partnerships which serves in reducing malnutrition and increasing production as well as creating jobs and cancelling foreign debts.

Bashir renewed Sudan’s intention to set up a supreme council for food security in order to coordinate between the center and the states on agricultural issues and open the doors for foreign investment, calling upon investors to visit Sudan to explore its agricultural potential.

Source: www.sudantribune.com