Zoom PictureSanto Domingo.– President Leonel Fernandez will attend the World Food Summit organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome from June 3 to 5.
Fernandez will be accompanied by First Lady Margarita Cedeno, Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez, as well as Administrative Minister of the Presidency Luis Manuel Bonetti and Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa.
According to the organizers, the summit on food security will discuss the current global food shortage crisis in a time of mass migration to cities, when food output has stagnated, prices have risen and food stocks are at their lowest since 1980.
The FAO says that the situation is "alarming" and that by the end of 2008 food import costs could be four times what they were in 2000.
President Lula da Silva of Brazil, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Giorgio Napolitano of Italy and Cristina Fernandez of Argentina are also expected to attend the summit.
