Oslo, Oct. 9, (dpa/GNA) – The Nobel Peace Prize award for the World Food Programme is “a call to the international community not to underfund” the Rome-based agency, says Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“This is an obligation – in our minds – of all states of the world to ensure that people are not starving,” she added, in remarks at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.
“The [coronavirus] pandemic and the challenges raised by the pandemic definitely strengthens the reasons for the prize,” she said, citing the need for food aid, including investments in farming and assisting communities that are isolated.
“The pandemic also shows us that multilateral cooperation is absolutely necessary to tackle global challenges. Multilateralism seems to have a lack of respect these days,” Reiss-Andersen said.
GNA