Japan, EU leaders seek urgent action on food prices

JAPAN: Leaders of Japan and the European Union called Wednesday for urgent action to address rising food prices, which they warned could worsen poverty and hurt the global economy.

Japan, which imports more than half of its food, has said it will raise the issue of spiralling food prices when it hosts the summit of the Group of Eight rich nations in July. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and top EU leaders including European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso voiced "strong concern" about the prices of food, oil and other commodities in a joint statement after a summit.

The high prices "could slow down the growth in the global economy and have negative effects on developed and developing nations," said the statement, also signed by Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia, the current EU president.

The leaders "underlined the urgent need to address the issue, particularly in light of its acute impact on developing countries' efforts to overcome poverty," the joint statement said.

The EU and Japan also pledged to work together to promote stability on world financial markets.

Food prices have risen rapidly since the end of 2007, spurred in part by growing appetites in emerging economies such as China and India and by the popularity of biofuels at a time of soaring oil prices.

Tokyo, Wednesday, AFP