Germany to host G7 meeting on Ukraine invasion’s impact on food security

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will host a virtual meeting of agricultural ministers from G7 countries on Friday to discuss the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food security and how to best stabilize food markets, the government said.

“The provision of foodstuffs in Germany and the European Union is safe but greater shortages can be expected in some countries outside the EU – especially where scarcity already reigns today due to issues like drought,” German Agriculture Minister Cem Oezdemir said in statement. “Price hikes for agricultural products cannot be excluded in industrialized nations either.”

Germany holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven most advanced economies this year. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.