Germany

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Annalena, thank you so much.  I guess our mail service was working better maybe than some of the colleagues, but I really want to thank you and thank Germany, for bringing us all together here in this place at this critical time.  And I’m very grateful to all the participants, but especially those from countries where people are bearing the brunt of this food crisis, and we very much look forward to hearing directly from you about what it is we can do together to more effectively meet your needs, the needs of your people. We’ve heard about the numbers, and we’ve seen an accelerating crisis over the last few years. People living in acute food insecurity, that is when a person’s ability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger: 108 million people roughly in 2016; 193 million people last year according to the UN estimates.  Now, the World Bank calculates that Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, long one of the world’s bread baskets, will add at least another 40 million people to the ranks of those who are severely food insecure. So we know the drivers of all of this: climate, COVID, and now conflict with Russia’s aggression.  The Russian military is laying waste to Ukrainian farms and grain silos, stealing Ukrainian grain and the equipment needed to harvest it, blocking access to and from Ukrainian ports by the sea.  There are some 25 million tons of grain trapped in silos right now in Ukraine, where it will rot if it’s not exported.  Tens of millions more are being harvested in the coming months, but there’s no place to put them because Ukraine’s silos are full because it’s not able to move its grain thanks to the Russian blockade. It’s very important that we be very clear about something, and Annalena said this earlier; I want to reinforce it:  When we imposed sanctions on Russia so that it would end its aggression against Ukraine as quickly as possible, we deliberately created exceptions for agricultural goods, …

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon.  Let me just start by saying how wonderful it is to be back in Germany for what is I think my sixth time as Secretary of State.  There are reminders of my country’s partnership with Germany everywhere in this city, including right here in this building.  This bank administered the Marshall Plan funds that helped rebuild Germany and Europe after World War II. We knew that a secure, prosperous, and democratic Europe was strongly in the interests of the United States, Europe, and the world.  That was true then.  It remains true today.  Here in Berlin five months ago, I gave a speech about Russia’s impending aggression against Ukraine.  Our intelligence revealed that President Putin was mobilizing for war, and to frame the stakes and prepare our partners, I laid out why that would be so dangerous for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Europe, indeed for people around the world. I said that Russia was taking aim not only at Ukraine, but at the fundamental principles of peace and security that were established in the wake of two world wars and the Cold War that one country can’t simply change the borders of another by force or subjugate a sovereign nation to its will or dictate its choices or policies.  A few weeks later, the war began.  Today, it enters its fifth month. Thousands of civilians, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed or wounded.  Cities have been flattened.  Millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes.  Beyond Ukraine, the global food crisis has spiked due to the war.  Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure, including its second-largest grain terminal earlier this month.  It’s blockading Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, preventing crops like grain and corn from being shipped worldwide. There are about 25 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine because of this Russian blockade.  We spent some time today in the G7 meeting and then in the extraordinary session convened by my German …

MR PRICE:  Thanks very much, and good afternoon, everyone.  Thank you very much for joining today.  We’re pleased to have an opportunity to preview the Secretary’s travel to Berlin, where he will take part, together with partners and allies, in a food security ministerial on Friday. Just a reminder, this call is on the record, but it is embargoed until the conclusion of the call.  We have on the line with us three senior State Department officials you will hear from today.  We have Cary Fowler, who is our Special Envoy for Global Food Security; we have Ramin Toloui, who is our Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs; and we have Amy Radetsky, and she is the Deputy Director for Western Europe in our Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. I will turn it over to Cary Fowler, who will have some opening remarks, then we’ll move to Assistant Secretary Toloui, and then all three will be in a position to take your questions. So with that, Special Envoy Fowler, over to you. MR FOWLER:  Okay.  Thank you, Ned.  What sets this global food crisis apart from previous similar situations is that there are multiple major causes behind it. Obviously, everyone understands the impact that the Russian war of aggression has had on the Ukraine and how it has upended global grain markets.  But beyond that, we have also been dealing with climate change, its effect on agricultural production.  As you know, we have had droughts, major droughts in our own country in the United States, and in the Horn of Africa, and elsewhere.  We’ve had COVID, which has dealt supply chain problems to us.  And of course, conflict, not just in Ukraine but in probably 20 or so other countries that have been having ongoing conflict situations. And I think what that means is that we have to realize that this crisis that we’re experiencing now is not one that is going to go away in the next few weeks, months.  This is probably a three-year crisis to work through all of …