Listen
Summit on food security
10/03/2010
The UK's food ministers issued a joint statement today following a summit focusing on the issue of food security.
The event in Cardiff, which was attended by Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment Richard Lochhead, is the second high-level sumit of its type. The first was held in Edinburgh in May 2009. The summits have been held as a forum to identify opportunities to co-operate across borders on food chain issues.
Ministers discussed a range of issues surrounding food security where UK-wide collaboration between the four administrations would be beneficial, such as sustainable food production, and the opportunities for liaison in areas such as cost-sharing on Food Research and Development, Skills Development within the food industry, and on action to combat Climate Change.
The Ministers issued a joint communiqué on the actions agreed.
Richard Lochhead said:
"Scotland's food and drink sector remains one of our key economic strengths. Launched in 2009, Scotland's Food and Drink Strategy has made great progress in promoting the natural bounty on our doorstep. It is great to see Wales following suit and I look forward to seeing their strategy once it is published.
"Through the Ministerial Food Summits we look to further understand the future important issues on the food agenda, both locally and globally. Research supplies valuable information about where we are and what we must do to enhance food security so we can support the growing global population."
Today's meeting was attended by Ministers and officials from all four administrations. The Ministers in attendance were: Wales's Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, who chaired the summit; Scotland's Rural Affairs & Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead; and The Rt. Hon The Lord (Bryan) Davies of Oldham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the UK Government's Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Communique
The Copenhagen Accord recognised that climate change represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. Allied to an increase in global population to 9 billion by 2050 and against a background of limited natural resource it is important that food production and consumption is developed in a sustainable way.
Food Ministers and representatives from Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England met in Cardiff today to discuss food sustainability issues and to consider specific areas that could benefit from collaboration across the UK. This builds on the meeting held in Edinburgh last year which concluded that a forum was needed to identify opportunities for co-operative working on a range of issues along the food chain.
The meeting, hosted in Cardiff Bay by Welsh Assembly Government Minister Elin Jones, focused on the food supply chain as a whole. It highlighted the importance of the food industry for the future health and well being of UK citizens and international food security.
The Ministers discussed research and technology transfer that will be important to deliver a sustainable food system with Professor John Beddington, the UK Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, and affirmed their commitment to work together to support the UK Cross-Government Strategy for Food Research and Innovation to enable the UK to provide leadership and respond to the emerging evidence base.
This is the second time that Ministers and representatives from all four administrations have met together to discuss food policy and we are committed to maintaining the dialogue. We will continue to discuss how to maximise the effectiveness of our R&D programmes and to develop a coherent and cross cutting agenda on skills. We are actively looking for further ways to contribute to meeting the global challenge of feeding 9 billion people in 40 years.