SEATTLE – U.S. Cabinet officials drove food security to the top of the global diplomatic agenda from coast to coast on Thursday, with the issue front and center at both the U.N. Security Council in New York and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, meetings in Seattle.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken seized on the rotating presidency of the Security Council to convene a debate on famine and conflict-induced global food security. He blasted Russia for backing out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July and resuming hostilities with Ukraine over grain shipments, a move he called “blackmail.”
“While that agreement was in force, more than 30 million tons of grain were able to get out of Ukraine and to markets around the world — well over half of that to developing countries and, in fact, two-thirds of the wheat to developing countries,” Blinken said in a press conference. “It was the equivalent of 18 billion loaves of bread.”
About the author
Gregory Scruggs
Gregory Scruggs is a journalist based in Seattle. He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from Columbia University. A specialist in Latin America and the Caribbean, he was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil. His coverage of the Habitat III summit and global urbanization won a 2017 United Nations Correspondent Association award. He coordinates the Seattle chapter of the Solutions Journalism Network.
