June 06, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 01, 1429

ROME, June 5: Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini expressed disappointment at the final declaration of the UN food security summit on Thursday, ANSA news agency reported.

The final document is “disappointing relative to expectations,” he said, saying the text was “unfortunately very watered down with respect to the initial ambitions.”

The foreign minister, speaking as the three-day summit of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) finalised the document, said failure by world leaders to reach a firmer agreement “in such a dire food emergency worries me.”

Contentious issues have included biofuels and trade barriers.

John Holmes, head of the UN task force on the crisis, said on Wednesday that a “broad consensus” was building around an action plan to be presented at a Group of Eight summit in July.

Food prices have doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, sparking riots in Egypt and Haiti and in many African nations. Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all imposed food export restrictions.

A news conference on the final declaration, initially set for 5pm, was postponed.—AFP