UAE announces $2b investment in India’s ‘food parks’ to ease shortages

“There’s an enormous need around the world for infrastructure,” Biden said. “Right now there’s a vacuum.”

As part of the initiative, the ‘I2U2’ will also advance a hybrid renewable energy project in India’s Gujarat state with 300 megawatts of wind and solar capacity.

Lapid said: “Anyone who understands that we live in a new world with new challenges would succeed and flourish.’’

Russia and Ukraine are the world’s third and fourth largest grain exporters, respectively, while Russia is also a key fuel and fertiliser exporter. The war has disrupted their exports, pushed world food prices to record levels and triggered protests in developing countries already contending with elevated food prices due to COVID-related supply chain disruptions.

UN agencies warned this month that the war in Ukraine and climate change could push starvation and mass migration to unprecedented levels.

Economic fallout from the pandemic, climate change, food insecurity and volatile energy markets, Biden said, had been “made worse by Russia’s brutal and unprovoked attack” on Ukraine.

“All these issues require cooperation and coordination, and none of us can mount a comprehensive response on our own,” Biden said.

They would also provide India with an opportunity to benchmark its perishable food products for global export and allow Indian produce access to the strategic Gulf markets starting with UAE, Kwatra said.

He said Indian states Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh – both ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party – were exploring setting up these parks, which would initially cultivate bananas, potatoes, rice, onions and spices.

Gulf Arab states import as much as 80-90% of their food and while their oil wealth renders them less vulnerable to rising global food prices than poorer countries in the region, disruptions threaten their supply chains.