CAIRO, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Summit on Food Security in Rome is a positive step for making international public opinion aware of the importance of tackling food crisis at global level, former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali said here on Tuesday.

    Ghali, also Chairman of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, was quoted by the Egyptian MENA news agency as saying that the Food Security issue will affect political stability not only on the developing countries but also on the advanced states.

    For his part, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in his word before the summit conference that the food security issue is facing up serious challenges posed by a hike in food commodities' prices and a downfall in the world stock of staple food commodities to its lowest levels since the 1970s, calling for a world action to contain food crisis.

    On Tuesday, world leaders gathered in Rome, Italy, for a three-day summit, seeking ways of tackling soaring food prices and helping millions of people in the fight against hunger.