Italian leaders favor global food bank

ROME, June 4 (UPI) -- Italian leaders at the Rome summit have proposed a sort of "global food bank'" to tackle the world food crisis.

''We will ask the European Union to help set up an international mechanism to create strategic resources to cope with emergencies,'' said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, ANSA, the Italian news agency reported Wednesday.

Frattini also said Italy supported United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's planned task force on the crisis, calling for ''global governance'' of food needs.

The Italian foreign minister defended U.N. food agencies located in Rome, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, against criticisms that they didn't see the crisis coming and were slow to act.

''Italy supports this food hub,'' said Frattini, while also noting that the entire U.N. system needs ''greater efficiency and speed.'' He pledged that Italy would make the food crisis a priority when it takes over the chair of the industrial Group of Eight at the start of 2009.

The Rome summit ends after three days on Thursday with leaders expected to announce an action plan for dealing with the food crisis.