Projects
Government Bodies
Flag Friday, 29 March 2024
All news
All news
Politics
22 April 2022, 09:01

Belarus speaks about sanctions, conflict in Ukraine, hunger threat at UN Security Council meeting

MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) - Belarus will continue to contribute to international food security and will do everything necessary for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations Igor Pilipenko said at the Conflict and Hunger - United Nations Security Council Arria-Formula meeting, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian diplomat noted that sometimes hunger can be caused by objective factors: climate change, natural disasters and epidemics. However, sometimes hunger is the result of deliberate policy and political decisions. “The best example of the latter is unilateral coercive measures introduced in connection with conflicts. It is important to recognize that such unilateral coercive measures, regardless of their form or format, have serious consequences for conflicts and efforts to combat hunger around the world. Unilateral coercive measures create disadvantages that can undermine the peace process by prolonging conflicts and needlessly exacerbating human suffering. They also reduce or prevent trade flows, dramatically affecting the availability of food and the means to produce it,” Igor Pilipenko stressed.

According to him, the current situation around the conflict in Ukraine is a vivid example of such effects of unilateral coercive measures. “Belarus, for its part, has always made a significant contribution to global food security by exporting agricultural and food products, agricultural machinery and technology, potash and complex fertilizers to more than 100 countries. The unilateral coercive measures imposed on Belarusian exports due to the conflict in Ukraine, especially on potash fertilizers, have already resulted in higher global prices for both fertilizers and food, further exacerbating global hunger,” the Belarusian representative pointed out.

According to the Belarusian diplomat added that the full effect of sanctions against Belarus has not yet manifested itself in full. According to the estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, the lack of fertilizers will reduce crop yields by at least 50%.

In this context, Belarus supports the call of the UN Secretary General to keep food markets open and lift trade restrictions and export bans in order to support international trade in food and fertilizers, as well as domestic and global demand.

“Conflicts are a destructive phenomenon causing hunger, and they should not be further exacerbated by unilateral coercive and similar measures. Despite the illegal and malicious restrictive measures, Belarus will continue to contribute to international food security and will do everything necessary for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine,” Igor Pilipenko said.

Subscribe to us
Twitter
Recent news from Belarus