The leaders stressed the "imperativeness of creating an enabling international environment for agro-produce related trade, establishing a just and reasonable international trade regime for agricultural products and concluding the Doha Round (of WTO talks) with meaningful commitments to agricultural subsidies reductions".

Prices of agricultural commodities have risen sharply over the past two years. The increase has been particularly sharp in the first six months of this year, with prices of rice, corn and wheat reaching record highs.

This has sparked riots in many countries and worsened the condition of 850 million people already in the grip of hunger.

The leaders said they "encourage collaborative action for better seeds and farm outputs that are sustainable and environmentally sound ... so as to create a conductive international environment for food security".

On biofuel, they said "it is essential to address the challenges and opportunities posed by biofuels". "It is important that public policies for production of biofuels contribute to sustainable development and the well-being of the most vulnerable people and do not threaten food security."

Biofuel production is expected to rise from 11 billion liters a year in 2007 to about 24 billion liters by 2017. This growth means more grains, oilseeds and sugarcane will be used to make biofuel.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily July 9, 2008)