UN sec-gen calls for urgent solution to Russian fertilizer export issues to mitigate global food crisis

NEW YORK, the United Nations. Sept 20 (Interfax) - The issues of fertilizer supplies should be urgently resolved in order to ease the global food crisis, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the UN General Assembly session on Tuesday.

"This year the world has enough food, the problem is distribution. But if the fertilizer market is not stabilized, next problem might to be food supply itself," he said.

"It is essential to continue removing all remaining obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and its ingredients, including ammonia," the UN secretary general said.

At the same time, he identified other global challenges, in particular, the fight against climate change, which he said should be a priority for every government and every international organization.

He added that the world is dependent on fossil fuels and that global carbon dioxide emissions are soaring to record levels. Urgent steps are needed in this area, in particular, the introduction of an excess profits tax on fossil fuel companies, he said.

From the rostrum of the UN General Assembly, Guterres called on all industrialized countries to impose a tax on the excess profits of fossil fuel companies.

Additionally, he emphasized that the world is also tackling new problems and challenges: more and more people are facing poverty and famine in the world, and the number of military conflicts is on the rise.

"Our world is in peril and paralyzed," the UN secretary general said.

He added that the only way out is global cooperation and dialogue, so it is necessary to work as one, as a "coalition of the world."