US invites India to the ministerial meeting on food crisis

United Nations: The ongoing Ukraine war has thrown out of gear the global food supply chains, leaving many vulnerable nations on the brink of hunger.

Several international meetings including those huddled at UN already discussed depleting food materials in African and Arab countries.

The US- India ministerial level meeting weeks before touched on ways to alleviate the crisis and most recently.

International community largely looks forward to India as the nation has a large stock of wheat beyond its domestic requirements.

Against this backdrop, on Tuesday India was invited to a ministerial meeting on global food security called by US Secretary of State of Antony Blinken.

Cindy McCain, Washington's Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization, reportedly said that Foreign Ministers meeting on May 18 would review urgent humanitarian needs and steps to build resilience for the future, according to IANS.

The US she said the US would cooperate with all grain-producing coutnries to alleviate the impending food shortage.

The world according to her is facing the most serious food crisis in 70 years since the World War II.

The US, in order to tackle the situation, called for two "Days of Action", the report said.

She blamed Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine for precipitating the crisis, given the fact that Ukraine being the fifth-largest exporter of wheat and sunflower oil globally.

India has a wheat stockpile estimated at about 100 million tonnes and many countries have already placed orders to avail the stock.

With inputs from IANS