ROME, ITALY, June 5, 2008- "The United States welcomes the declaration issued today at the High Level Conference on Food Security in Rome. We congratulate the countries who took an active role in securing this declaration, which, among other things, calls on countries to meet urgent humanitarian needs and donors and international organizations to support expanded food production, encourages the international community to continue its efforts toward trade liberalization, and recognizes the important role of investments in science and technology in ensuring food security in the long term. We also welcome the declaration's recognition of the important issues related to the challenges and opportunities of biofuels. The United States is firmly committed to the sustainable production and use of biofuels, both domestically and globally.

The United States reaffirms our commitment to combat global hunger. The United States is on track to spend nearly $5 billion on programs to combat hunger over the next two years, and we will continue to work with the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to those most vulnerable to hunger. We will also target development assistance to increase staple food production and availability. In the longer term, we will continue to work to create a global policy environment that allows the free flow of food and the best technologies to produce food."