WFP, China in talks on nutrition program

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DALIAN, Sept. 13 -- The world's largest hunger-fighting humanitarian agency said on Friday that it is negotiating with the Chinese government on starting a nutrition learning exchange program to help address the nation's nutrition imbalances.

The World Food Program (WFP) is looking to use the initiative to bring government officials from other developing countries and international experts to China to train teachers on nutritional knowledge.

"Nutrition is now the biggest issue for China. The mindset of the Chinese people should focus on the quality of calories rather than quantity," Brett Rierson, director of the WFP's China Liaison Office, said in an interview with Xinhua at the 2013 Summer Davos.

When the WFP was invited into China in 1979, the country was an assistance recipient, but now China has become an active provider of aid and the key challenge has become reducing the cost of food and improving public knowledge of nutrition, Rierson noted, citing the alarming rate of obesity as evidence of rampant nutrition imbalances.

A survey conducted by the General Administration of Sport in 2013 found that 11 percent of Chinese aged 20 to 39 are obese, an increase of 2 percentage points from the last survey in 2010.

If no action is taken, obesity will put a huge drain on public funds because of healthcare costs, Rierson warned.

He told Xinhua that the planned learning exchange scheme is part of a broader strategic framework over which the WFP is negotiating with the Chinese government in a bid to reformulate their cooperation as the roles of the two parties have both undergone significant changes during the past decades.

The framework will center on integrating agricultural development, technical assistance, nutrition learning, disaster response, as well as procurement, according to Rierson.

"The process is very complicated as we have to negotiate with different government ministries and there is a crossing of interests," he said, adding the move, if nailed down, will have a great impact on the global level.

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