KUALA LUMPUR: Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has cautioned that the "worst may be yet to come" on global food insecurity as the Russia-Ukraine war sees no end in sight.
Hishamuddin said, the damage in Ukraine, a major exporter of many basic commodities, as well as harsh sanctions on Russia, is expected to spur further price hikes in the coming months.
"The conflict is in Europe, but the implications — and damage — are global.
"Covid-19 has already seen supply chain disruptions globally where national lockdowns halted the flow of food supplies and raw goods.
"Now, the Ukraine-Russia conflict is making the situation much worse. Commodity price volatility has surged, with food prices reaching levels not seen since the 2007-2008 price spikes.
"Like it or not, food security is critical to peace and stability, there are no two ways about it," he said, during the 19th Asia Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday.
Apart from food insecurity, Hishamuddin said countries across the globe face three other common challenges – transboundary crime, online disinformation, and biological warfare threats – that necessitate security cooperation.
The Covid-19 pandemic, he said, also presented a "golden opportunity" for terror groups to combine their extremist narrative with false ideas about the virus.
"These were pursued through a coordinated disinformation campaign such as conspiracy theories about the vaccines; claims of God's vengeance against the non-believers, and even accusations to weaponise the virus.
"This serves as a reminder that we must continue to be vigilant in our fight against extremism and can ill-afford to take our eyes off this war.
"Third, is the threat of biological warfare. We have seen first-hand how Covid-19, an unseen virus, brought nations to their knees.
"It has definitely reminded us of our vulnerabilities and indeed, even to this very day, we are all still trying to rebuild and recover from the devastating impacts Covid-19 left us.
"But, behind the scenes – potential enemies saw the sheer scale of devastation this unseen virus brought and were planning their next steps," he said.
Hishamuddin, therefore, called on countries to pursue practical cooperation at sub-regional levels as well as to promote trust and confidence-building measures to tackle the emerging security challenges.