Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi during a press conference (19 April) - Photo Credit: D. Anobil / ISD

Mr. Supachai encouraged long-term strategies and policy options, including the scaling up of investments in agricultural research and development. At his inaugural press conference at UNCTAD XII, Dr. Supachai said: “While we certainly must focus on urgent immediate relief […] we will only be jumping from one crisis to another,” without a rethink in global aid delivery systems to ensure more coherent and consistent focus on boosting agricultural sectors in areas such as infrastructure improvement, research and development, and productivity enhancement.

With Government Ministers arriving in Accra, Ghana, for the Conference’s twelfth quadrennial meeting, Mr. Supachai spotlighted the current sharp increase in food prices and its impact on the least developed countries in the hope that stakeholders could find some common ground over the next week and, working with UNCTAD –- the only international body dealing with trade-related issues from a development perspective –- and other agencies, identify long-term measures to address “this crippling crisis”.