TOKYO (AFP) — Japan on Friday announced an additional 50 million dollars to help developing countries cope with soaring food prices, increasing the momentum for action at next week's Group of Eight summit.
Leaders of the eight major industrial powers meet starting Monday in the northern Japanese mountain resort of Toyako, where they are reportedly set to agree on a new system of "food reserves" to assist hungry nations.
Japan said it would contribute 50 million dollars over the next three months in food aid, on top of 200 million dollars it pledged since the crisis of spiralling food prices came into the public spotlight earlier this year.
"Surging food prices are one of the most important issues to be discussed during the G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido next week," Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said of the meeting on Japan's northernmost main island.
"The situation remains serious, particularly in developing countries," Komura said.
Japanese media said that the summit would agree on a new system of "food reserves" in which every G8 nation -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- would contribute grain.
The countries would be obliged to take part in the system and to release grain such as rice, wheat and corn at a time of crisis, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
The system would be modelled on oil reserves designed by the International Energy Agency to lessen the danger of oil shocks.
Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, setting off riots in parts of the developing world.
Experts have blamed a number of factors such as rising oil prices, growing use of biofuels and increased consumption of high-calorie food, particularly meat, in emerging economies.
World Bank president Robert Zoellick issued an urgent call this week for action on rising food prices at the G8 summit, saying that the crisis was a "man-made catastrophe" overwhelming the bank's resources.
He urged donors to provide help quickly to meet nearly 400 million dollars in requests to the World Bank pending from some 31 countries.
"This is a test of the global system to help the most vulnerable, and it cannot afford to fail," he said.
Britain's Guardian newspaper said Friday that an unpublished World Bank report blamed the food crisis on biofuels, which have been increasingly embraced as a way to cut carbon emissions blamed for climate change.
Security is tight for the G8 summit, with some 21,000 police officers on guard near the venue.
Activists said that immigration authorities barred the entry of more than two dozen South Koreans who planned to take part in anti-G8 rallies Saturday.
Indigenous people from 11 nations on Friday wrapped up their own alternative summit in Hokkaido, the historic home of the Ainu people, and voiced hope that the summit would take action on the environment.
US President George W. Bush is due on Sunday in Hokkaido in what will be his last G8 summit.
Japanese media said that Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda were expected to voice support for a goal of doubling crop production in Africa.
Japan, in a summit with African leaders in May, pledged to use its expertise to help double rice production in Africa over the next 10 years to alleviate food shortages.
In one potentially controversial move, Japan plans to push at the G8 summit to urge all countries to lift all restrictions on food exports, a senior foreign ministry official said.
Japan is dependent on imports for some 60 percent of its food, more than any other G8 country. A number of developing nations have restricted exports to ensure they can feed their own populations.
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