Mtg of ambassadors of major rice importing countries; people buying rice

Jakarta, 5 May 2008 1. Wide of Indonesian trade minister Marie Pangestu in interview 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marie Pangestu, Indonesian Trade Minister: "We (ASEAN trade ministers) agreed that it was necessary to talk about cooperation between the ASEAN countries in the sense that all of us have the political commitment to ensure that we have stable prices in all our countries. And stable means that you don't have fluctuations either too high or too low. And it's very important for us to undertake fair trade practices to ensure orderly rice trade in the region." 3. Close of Pangestu's hands 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marie Pangestu, Indonesian Trade Minister: "For a lot of developing countries, this is also going to be very challenging because we need to ensure that the poor, the poverty rates don't go up in our countries because of the rising food prices. So here, that's the big challenge. But in the medium term, the answer has to be in increasing productivity." 5. Mid of Pangestu Manila, 6 May 2008 6. Pan of people lining up to buy rice at NFA (National Food Authority) rice stall 7. Mid of people at stall 8. Mid of people in line, pan to rice stall 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Francis Pangilinan, Philippine senator: "I think this is a bad idea, I think this is anti poor, I think that the most vulnerable of sectors, meaning the poor and the under privileged will suffer from this effort, because what will happen here is that you will have rice producing nations dictating how the prices of rice will go and its already sky rocketing." 10. Mid of NFA workers weighing bags of rice 11. Various of NFA workers weighing out bags of rice 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Francis Pangilinan, Philippine senator: "We hope that our partners in ASEAN think twice and reconsider this effort of putting together a rice cartel or OREC." 13. Wide of NFA rice storage area 14. Mid of commercial rice store 15. Close of store sign reading "Thailand NFA rice available here!!" 16. Close of grains of rice STORYLINE: Indonesia's trade minister said on Monday that ASEAN countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) have agreed to cooperate to ensure stable food prices and orderly rice trade in the region. Speaking in an interview with AP Television, Marie Pangestu stressed that there is a political commitment within Southeast Asian countries to "ensure that we have stable prices in all of our countries." Pangestu also said that an answer to solving the current food crisis is "in increasing productivity." The Asian Development Bank had said on Monday sharper fiscal policies were needed to help a billion poor people in Asia cope with skyrocketing food prices. Food riots have erupted in countries such as Haiti, Egypt and Somalia in angry response to the rising prices. The rice market plunged into uncertainty on Monday when the Philippines, the world's biggest importer, failed in an attempt to boost its stocks of the Asian food staple. Ambassadors from rice exporting countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar planned to meet on Tuesday to discuss a proposal by Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, that they form a cartel to control the price of the food staple. In response, Philippine senator Francis Pangilinan told AP Television that he had grave reservations over the proposed cartel. "I think this is a bad idea, I think this is anti poor, I think that the most vulnerable of sectors, meaning the poor and the under privileged will suffer from this effort, because what will happen here is that you will have rice producing nations dictating how the prices of rice will go and its already sky rocketing," Pangilinan said. The Philippines is the world's top rice importer. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/47edd9f09054c98517cb6d1c08aeb4a2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork