Sarkozy: Food crisis should be handled by panel of experts

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he has received international support for his idea of creating an experts group to tackle the global food crisis, similar to the Nobel Prize-winning panel on climate change. "In the 21st century, we must be able to feed the planet," Sarkozy said in an interview published in Japan's Yomiuri newspaper Monday, as the Group of Eight summit of major economic powers was opening on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Early last month, Sarkozy proposed creating a panel of top experts on food issues, similar to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to diagnose problems and help world leaders make the best possible decisions. Sarkozy told the newspaper that the world needs the panel "to improve our way of approaching and understanding food problems." "This idea seems to have been received favorably by our G-8 partners, and I am delighted," Sarkozy told the newspaper.