Since international food and oil prices have increased significantly in recent years and triggered global food crisis in 2007 and 2008, nations throughout the world have paid special attention to food security. To safeguard food security for the people in the Asia-Pacific region and in response to instructions of the APEC leaders’ conference, Taiwan convened the APEC Food Security Forum at the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei August 18-20. Senior officials of APEC economies in charge of food policy are invited to share with each other their experiences in dealing with food crisis, discuss such issues as food crisis and climate changes, and formulate future Asia-Pacific countermeasures and concrete action plans to enhance regional food security, said the Council of Agriculture (COA).

Some 100 government officials, scholars, experts and business representatives from 20 APEC economies attended the Forum, making it the most enthusiastically participated working group level APEC meeting in recent years. Conclusions and recommendations of the Forum, which are of special significance for Taiwan and regional food security, will be presented to the First APEC Ministerial Conference on Food Security to be held in Japan in October for reference.

COA Minister Wu-hsiung Chen and chairman of the APEC Agricultural Techniques and Cooperation Working Group addressed the opening ceremony, and attendees   discussed such topics as “emerging issues related to APEC regional food security,” “challenges and strategies of safeguarding food security,” “food security after environmental changes” and “APEC’s role in long-term food security.” The participants summarized on August 20 the discussions of the previous two days to make concrete recommendations to the forthcoming Ministerial Conference on Food Security.

Such extreme weathers as drought, heat wave and snow storm caused by global warming have become more frequent and intensified in recent years, thus affecting adversely food production. For instance, wheat production in Russia dropped recently after the country suffered from a serious drought and big fires. Russia ’s decision to stop exporting wheat has caused panic throughout the world, driving wheat price up by 50% overnight. Even such major Southeast Asian rice producing countries as Vietnam and Thailand have actively studied the feasibility of establishing a “rice reserve mechanism.” The G-20 summit, which gathers together leaders of both advanced and developing countries and attracts global attention, has also expressed concerns about issues related to food security. It is the appropriate time for Taiwan to sponsor the APEC Food Security Forum and it already made concrete contributions to safeguard agricultural development and food security in the Asia-Pacific region in the meeting’s conclusion.

The Council said some 100 representatives from 20 APEC economies, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam and Taiwan, attended the APEC Food Security Forum, demonstrating that APEC economies have attached much importance to this issue and have great expectations from it.