Southeast Asia urges cooperation over rice

Protests, strikes and riots have erupted in developing countries around the world after dramatic rises in the prices of wheat, rice, corn, oils and other essential foods that have made it difficult for the poor to make ends meet.

President Bush proposed this week $770 million in new U.S. food aid to stave off the crisis, pledging Washington would take the lead in combating global hunger.

Bush said on Friday food prices have been rising as a result of soaring energy prices but the use of corn-based ethanol is not the main driver behind rising prices at the supermarket.

Southeast Asian trade ministers repeated in their statement a commitment to conclude the long-delayed Doha round of global trade negotiations by the end of the year.

The food crisis should be a "big jolt" to concluding the global trade negotiations, said Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean, who was also attending the Bali meeting.

He said good progress had been made in the past few weeks but a possible May 19 date for a potentially key Geneva meeting of World Trade Organization ministers was looking unlikely.

"We're hopeful that a date very soon after that is."

The Doha negotiations were launched in 2001 to lower barriers to trade to give the world economy a lift and help the poorest countries to fight poverty by exporting more.

But negotiators say the talks risk more years of delay or outright collapse if there is not a breakthrough soon.

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