G-7 Pledges Hunger Aid

FILE- In this April 15, 2022 file photo, malnourished children wait for treatment in the pediatric department of Boulmiougou hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The U.N. is warning that 18 million people in Africa’s Sahel region face severe hunger in the next three months.

As the Group of Seven world's wealthiest economies winds down its annual meeting, this year in Germany, it released communiques pledging help for addressing the world's food insecurity and calling on nations to share their food supplies.

G7 leaders pledged $4.5 billion on Tuesday to fight global hunger and agreed to step up their efforts to help Ukrainian farmers keep working and to address fertiliser shortages.

G7 industrialised nations on Tuesday urged countries and companies with large food stockpiles to help ease a hunger crisis sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We call on those partners with large food stockpiles, as well as on the private sector, to make food available without distorting the market," the Group of Seven leaders said in a statement after a summit in Germany.

They called "on all countries to avoid excessive stockpiling of food which can lead to further price increases".

The war in Ukraine, a country known as Europe's breadbasket, has pushed up food prices and led to shortages, as Russia's blockade of Black Sea ports prevents millions of tonnes of grain from being shipped out.

The crisis has sparked fears of famine in vulnerable countries highly reliant on Ukrainian exports, particularly in Africa.

The issue was a key topic of discussion at a three-day summit of the G7 -- comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- held in the Bavarian Alps.

This report was sourced from information provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters