Foreign Secretary says food security could put more countries on the side of international law

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said this Sunday during the Peace Summit in Ukraine that it is possible to bring more countries from different continents to the “side of international law” by raising awareness of the issue of food security.

“We need to call on all parties. We can stand on the side of international law, on the side of the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, on the side of territorial integrity, all these partners, if we show them, as we show them, that this is also crucial for them,” said Rangel, who represented Portugal this Sunday at a round table on food security on the second and final day of the summit, held in Burgenstock, on the outskirts of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Noting that three thematic sessions were planned for the second day of work, namely “nuclear security”, the “humanitarian situation” of prisoners, displaced persons and abducted children, and “food security”, the head of diplomacy said that Portugal chose the latter “because which, as the President said, is what underscores the global, global nature of this war.”

“So in order for us to be able to engage partners in this dialogue, particularly from Africa and Asia, but also some from Latin America, especially Central America, it is naturally necessary to see what impact this war is having on them. And so on the African continent it is clear: this is indeed a famine,” he said.

Paulo Rangel recalled that “fortunately, firstly, largely thanks to the actions of the UN and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as Turkey, an agreement on grain exports was reached between the warring parties,” from which “Russia then withdrew.”

“I must say that there are countries there that, together with Turkey, have actively cooperated in creating alternative channels, namely Romania and Moldova on the Black Sea, “and this ensures that at the moment grain exports are almost up to pre-war levels, which for these countries is fundamental,” he said.

Despite this, the Minister continued, and like the President of Kenya, who led the work of this group, “he made it very clear that this conflict has global implications and therefore all parties and all parties need to be involved. These are also those who are indirectly affected by this peaceful decision.”

The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs also stressed that Portugal has been making efforts, sometimes “fiercely” since the beginning of the conflict, to ensure that the sanctions packages that have been applied to Russia since the beginning of its military aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 do not will have an impact on the African and Asian continents in terms of food security.

“The sanctions that the European Union developed for Russia and which Portugal approved with our “hand”, and often with the persistence of Portugal’s representatives in the EU, have always been adapted to avoid consequences for the African continent and the Asian continent. in terms of food, so we have always prevented sanctions from having that effect,” he said.

Portugal was represented at the first Peace Summit in Ukraine by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the head of diplomacy, which was one of about 80 countries that signed the declaration adopted as a result of the work.