G20 must act to stabilise food prices - Zoellick

"The answer to food price volatility is not to prosecute or block markets, but to use them better," Zoellick wrote in an opinion piece in Thursday's Financial Times [last week] urging G20 leaders to put access to food at the top of its agenda. "By empowering the poor, the G20 can take practical steps towards ensuring the availability of nutritious food," he wrote.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy will take the presidency of the G20 in 2011. In his column, Zoellick set out nine action points to make sure the poorest have access to food. Such steps were needed to ensure global growth and stability, he said.