BUSINESS INFORMATION - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

BUSINESS INFORMATION - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Friday, expressing a food safety initiative launched by the administration of President Barack Obama to fight hunger around the world.

"Food security is not just about food. But this is a matter of security: economic security, environmental security, even national security," Hillary said at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, led by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, reported AFP.

"Hunger continues to threaten the stability of government, society and the border," he added, and stated that there are food riots in more than 60 countries since 2007.

The new initiative, which raises Hillary said the construction of a "key element of our foreign policy", seeks to help farmers increase production and make technology and infrastructure investments to make agriculture "more productive and beneficial" in developing countries.

That would mark a shift from the current focus on emergency food aid for humanitarian crises or natural disasters.

The administration of President Barack Obama, Hillary emphasized "talking about the causes of famine" over plans to conduct research to develop better seeds, impose insurance program to protect farmers against agricultural risks, and linking farmers and agribusiness to the market.

He said the women, who form the majority of farmers in the world, will be placed in the heart of the business.

Clinton cited a World Bank efforts in Mali to finance the modernization of an improved system of irrigation canals and thereby "dramatically" increase the paddy yield and farmers' income.

He urged Congress to fully fund the request for the U.S. State Department for 2010, and said the agency will ask for additional agricultural funding next year, and promised "long-term commitment and accountability to our business".

Bill Clinton praised the move, and said that "one mistake that I and all of the precursor is created when we stop helping people eat in 1981 forward, we forget the element capable of eating their own dignity."

The new plan "is a big problem. And that could change the U.S. relationship with people around the world", he added.