Pacific Economic Cooperation Council

Special Session: Public Goods and Private Markets
Local and International Public Goods: What role for regional cooperation in the food crisis?
25 July 2008, Bangkok

Since the beginning of the year the world has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the price of food. By the end of the first quarter of the year, the price of rice had gone up from US$375.6 per metric ton to US$561.8; wheat has gone from US$369.59 to US$439.72; chicken has gone from US$.0.776 to US0.812 per pound. This spike in prices puts many of world’s poorest people at risk and furthermore increases the possibility of political instability around the world.

The purpose of a special session on food convened at the time of the PECC Standing Committee meeting is to provide objective analysis of the key issues underlying the rise in food prices and provide the basis for input into the annual State of the Region report and PECC’s statements to APEC and the media on this issue.

Given the pressures for immediate responses, due attention may not be paid to the medium and longer term consequences of policy actions. PECC has a long history and track record in producing high quality policy research based on its core principles of the promotion of cooperation among the economies in the region to bring about greater economic and social benefits and well-being for their respective peoples and contribute to the stability, prosperity and progress of the entire region.

Presentations:

• Food Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
  Dr Srinivas Madhur
  Director, Office of Regional Economic Integration
  Asian Development Bank

• Public goods and private markets: issues in food market developments
  Dr Don Gunasekera 
  Chief Economist 
  Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE)

• What role is there for Regional Cooperation?
  Dr Yuhtasak Supasorn
  Director
  National Food Institute
  Thailand

• Overview of soaring food prices and country policy responses
  Ms Nancy Morgan
  Policy Officer
  UN Food and Agriculture Organization