India to allow free flow of food for UN aid programme

NEW DELHI: India will not impose export duty and other restrictions on food purchases by the United Nations World Food Programme, joining a global initiative to tackle scarcity of food and volatility in its prices.

"The issue was discussed at the G-20 and the government will support the proposal," a finance ministry official said. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will discuss food security issues with the G-20 finance ministers on the sidelines of the upcoming World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in the US.

India has also decided to support creation of an international information system on crop production. The Agricultural Market Information System, designed on the lines of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) on oil, will provide accurate and timely information on crop production, stocks, trade and prices to help curb price volatility.

The G-20 is also proposing a pilot programme for small, targeted, regional, emergency, humanitarian food reserves and a rapid response system under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to prevent food scarcity. The Development Working Group under the G-20 will also formulate an action plan on food and water security.

Mukherjee, whose five-day US visit begins on September 21, will also meet the finance ministers of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa - which with India form the BRICS group - to discuss the global economic situation and the group's policy response.

The finance minister will also attend the G-24 meeting, called to discuss recovery, growth and development in the backdrop of the current global environment.

The G-24 meeting, which will also look at ways of enhancing the group's effectiveness, will close with South Africa's finance minister Pravin J Gordhan handing over the group's presidency to Mukherjee.

Mukherjee will also attend the first joint conference of the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) and the World Economic Forum, which will have 24 ministers and 24 chief executive officers.

The finance minister will seek investments in India's infrastructure sector, where the government plans to put in $1 trillion in the 12th Plan period.

Mukherjee will also address the US-India Business Council-FICCI roundtable meeting in New York and the India-US CEOs Forum meeting in Washington.