UN World Food Programme’s Executive Director David Beasley and Germany’s Minister of State Nils Annen Joint Statement

“Throughout the recent years, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the GFFO have played a key role in forming a global humanitarian system that is stronger, more responsive and more resilient than ever before.

WFP not only provides live-saving food assistance to millions of people. It also constitutes the logistics backbone of the UN humanitarian system whilst the GFFO has emerged as one of the biggest humanitarian donors worldwide.

As key players within the humanitarian system, the GFFO and WFP voice their concern about the deteriorating humanitarian crises in many parts of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic as well as containment measures have led to the loss of millions of jobs, threatening an unparalleled number of people with secondary consequences as poverty, food insecurity or even hunger.

Therefore Germany and WFP reiterate their determination to spearhead the international humanitarian COVID-19 response, together with other international partners. Germany has already scaled up its funding for global humanitarian operations by making available an additional 450 Mio. Euro for this response.

WFP has quickly adapted to this new humanitarian challenge and has mobilized its unique logistics components to ensure the functionality of the humanitarian system; at the same time it stands ready to provide a record number of 138 million people worldwide with life-saving food assistance.

We are facing one of the most serious humanitarian challenges since the end of World War II. However, only by working together the international community will be able to overcome this crisis.“