World Interdependence Stressed at 2020 Events in Australia

"If a 747 loaded with 400 passengers crashed every 15 minutes, almost 40,000 people would be killed every 24 hours. This is the number of children who die around the world every day from nutrition-related diseases," said Per Pinstrup-Andersen before an audience of 100 journalists at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, on May 29. "And all around the world, governments fail to act." The address was part of a week-long series of meetings in Australias capital city attended by Pinstrup-Andersen and other IFPRI researchers to discuss issues associated with IFPRIs 2020 initiative.

Pinstrup-Andersen told the journalists that widespread food insecurity in developing countries will threaten global stability tomorrow and undermine the prosperity of all nations. "Investing in the development of poorer countries, especially in the all-important area of agriculture, is the best policy for Australia and for humankind," said Pinstrup-Andersen. "Business as usual toward developing countries will destabilize the world and threaten the prosperity of even the richest nations. Foreign assistance is an investment, not a handout."

During a seminar on May 28 at Parliament House, organized by the Crawford Fund for International Agricultural Research, Pinstrup-Andersen urged some 250 Australian government and industry leaders to focus attention on assisting the expanding communities of Asia and the Pacific to ensure that they have access to sufficient food, water, education, health care, and employment. In addition to the importance of this assistance from a humanitarian perspective, Pinstrup-Andersen said that it is also in the economic interest of Australia. "Australia need look no further than Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand for examples of once-poor countries whose growing economies proved enormous export markets for Australia and other industrialized nations."

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