Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 96-11-16

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org,cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Clerides meets Scalfaro and Diouf

[02] Cyprus fully supports FAO Plan of Action

1320:CYPPRESS:01

[01] Clerides meets Scalfaro and Diouf

The two men met on the sidelines of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Heads of State or Governments Conference, which began on November 13 and ends tomorrow.

During their hour-long meeting the Presidents of Cyprus and Italy also exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common interest.

President Clerides also met Friday with FAO's Director General Jacques Diouf, with whom he discussed cooperation between Cyprus and the UN organisation and Diouf's forthcoming visit to the island.

The President of the Republic is scheduled to return later today.

CNA MA/AP/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

1410:CYPPRESS:02

[02] Cyprus fully supports FAO Plan of Action

Addressing the Summit, organised under the banner ''Food for All'', President Clerides described it as ''historic'' and noted that the most basic problem human society faces is food insecurity.

''The big challenge still facing us is to transform the universal concern for improving nutritional well-being into action,'' he added, acknowledging that the complexity of the problem needs a renewed commitment to undertake concrete actions.

President Clerides referred to the World Bank's ''World Development Report 1996'' which notes that poverty coinciding with low development, if any, are among the fundamental causes of hunger and malnutrition.

According to the same report, he added, 51 countries are classified in the category of low-income economies, while this year the per capita Gross National Product in 89 countries was lower to that of ten years ago.

The President said armed conflicts, social discrimination, population growth, natural calamities and inadequate economic strategies are other basic causes of malnutrition and factors affecting the outcome of policies aimed at combatting the problem.

''Being the President of a small state which has been the victim of a military intervention, in 1974, and is still facing the consequences of this event, I am in a position to understand the magnitude of the tragic calamities caused by armed conflicts,'' he noted.

Armed conflicts, in particular, Clerides pointed out, deserve special attention and consideration by the international community. He also noted that between 1991-95 the UN allocated 5 billion US dollars on peacekeeping operations in conflicts, in Africa only.

President Clerides registered Cyprus' full support to the FAO Summit Policy Statement and the Plan of Action.

''What remains to be done is to find the ways to implement this Plan of Action,'' to proceed with the ultimate objective of eliminating huger and malnutrition from the earth, Clerides said.

CNA AP/MA/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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