“It Begins With Me”: Bono, Italy, Ireland Speak Out For Syrians And A Zero Hunger World

Bono and Cousin met on Sunday night at the Expo Milan 2015 special event “It Begins With Me,” hosted by the governments of Ireland and Italy, to mobilize people in the challenge to end hunger in our lifetimes and raise awareness of the need for more resources to respond to the increasing hunger needs of people fleeing conflict.

“To end hunger we count on public will. People must raise their voices to demand a world without hunger. This is why I am so pleased that Bono has come here to Expo to make this happen in what is a very difficult moment,” said Cousin, referring to the challenge of  securing steady funding for the Syrian emergency response.

“I think it is extraordinary that an organization like WFP even exists when each year you and your staff have to go out and ask for funds to do your work.  In Jordan right now we have a refugee crisis and … WFP is forced to cut for lack of funds,” said Bono. “This is shameful!”

In his opening remarks, Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, one of the driving forces behind the event, announced that Ireland will donate 60 million euros to WFP over three years, with a specific focus on refugees.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi underlined the need for more resources to fight hunger and promised that by 2017 Italy would be back in fourth place in the country ranking for international cooperation among the G7 countries.

Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina said that we need both citizens and institutions to support the fight against hunger and Expo is the ideal venue to put fighting hunger at the top of the agenda.

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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food in emergencies and working with communities to build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

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Download stills photos of the event here

For video of the event, please contact: jonathan.dumont@wfp.org

For more information please contact: (email: firstname.lastname@wfp.org)

Frances Kennedy WFP/Italy Mob +39 346 7600806

Vichi De Marchi WFP/Italy Mob +39 3480517605