As Russia's 11-week-old invasion of Ukraine continues to block its grain exports and disrupt shipping in the Black Sea, the world is in danger of a global "bread war", Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio has warned.
"We risk a world bread war. What is happening with basic necessities is disturbing, and this does not just apply to the European continent," Di Maio said.
"There are African countries, which are suffering and seeing food insecurity skyrocket...this impacts famine and migration flows in the African continent," Di Maio said.
Speaking from a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Berlin, Di Maio said Italy welcomed an initiative launched by the German G7 presidency to building a global food security alliance.
Italy is extremely worried by what happening in the Mediterranean concerning the wheat crisis, for example, and the impact this has on populations, especially famine and a surge in migration in Africa, he said.
"For this reason, the government and its foreign ministry is organising a dialogue at ministerial level with Mediterranean countries, together with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which will kick off in Italy next month," he said.
Italy will work with Mediterranean countries allow them to diversify their sources of essential goods, with the aim of avoiding a food crisis, famines and "increasingly massive migratory flows", Di Maio said.
