UN head visits St. Louis
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/13/2009
BY Georgina Gustin
ST. LOUIS - The head of the United Nations visited the city Friday, delivering a talk about global food security and hunger to a packed crowd at St. Louis University -- and squeezing in a tour of the Gateway Arch.
Its eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon has made it his mission to revitalize the United Nations, in part by traveling around its most influential member nation, introducing the organization's work to people who might believe it has little effect on their daily lives.
"I know what the United Nations does can seem remote to you," Ban told the audience, "... but I'm always conscious I have to be accountable to the American taxpayer."
The U.S., he noted, contributes one-fifth of the U.N's dues, and pays for 27 percent of its global peacekeeping efforts.
Ban has visited few American cities and wanted to come to St. Louis because "it's exactly the heartland of the United States," he said.
"Missouri feeds America, or at least at good part of it," he said, calling the state's productivity the "envy of many countries in the world."
Roughly a billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day, spending most of what they have on food. Last year, global grain prices shot up, sparking riots and starvation in some developing countries.
"Sometime parents had to choose among their children who to feed," Ban said. .
"No one should face such deprivation," he said. "Not in a world of such wealth."
Though last year's food crisis has receded, Ban insisted, "we have not yet resolved this issue." Ban formed a task force to tackle the global food crisis, and is working to get aid to small farmers in developing countries. In the short term, Ban said, these farmers need seed and fertilizer. In the long term, they need better infrastructure and technology.
On Friday morning, he met with leaders from area business and commodity groups, including biotech giant Monsanto. The United Nations does not have a formal position on biotech crops -- which Monsanto says could stem hunger in the developing world.
"I know there is some sensitivity on this," Ban said in a post-speech interview, referring to many countries' reluctance to allow biotech crops. Ban has convened a group to meet this September to discuss the implications of biotech.
For St. Louis and the state, Ban's visit was a coup, officials here said.
"The state of Missouri is a unique venue in which to discuss global food security," said Gov. Jay Nixon, addressing the crowd. "Agriculture continues to be the backbone of the state's economy," Nixon continued, noting the state's $2 billion in agricultural exports. "Missouri has a very high stake in addressing hunger and food security issues being faced around the globe."
