Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said here Monday that the upcoming G8 summit of leading industrialized nations will build on the outcome of the coming food conference in Rome this week.
Rising food prices were an "urgent international issue," and were "a multifaceted problem that calls for a multifaceted response," Fukuda said at a joint news conference with his British counterpart Gordon Brown after talks at No. 10 Downing Street.
"We would like to build on the outcome of (the Rome) meeting and engage... at the G8 on the various complex factors behind rising food prices worldwide," he said.
The aim was to reach "medium- to long-term measures, such as increasing food production and agricultural productivity, especially in developing countries," he added.
At the news conference, Brown also emphasized the importance of boosting poorer countries' agricultural production.
"It's vital that tomorrow when people meet in Rome... we agree we're going to do more to increase agricultural production and productivity in some of the poorest countries in the world," said Brown.
"We need to expand aid and help we give for agricultural production," he added.
Fukuda's European trip is aimed at completing preparations for the G8 summit on July 7-9 at Toyako, a lakeside resort on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Before his trip to London, Fukuda visited Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel. He was also to attend the UN-backed food summit in Rome, on the sidelines of which he planned to hold talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Source:Xinhua
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