World leaders are poised to gather in Romeon Tuesday for a three-day summit, seeking ways of tackling soaring food prices and helping millions of people in the fight against hunger.

The summit, hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was called at a time when the world is experiencing a dramatic increase in food prices.

Rice is displayed for sale at a whole-sale food market in Hanoi April 5, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) 

Agricultural commodity prices rose sharply in the past two years and continued to rise even more sharply in the first three months of 2008, with foodstuff such as rice, corn and wheat all reaching record highs, sparking riots in a number of countries and worsening the situation of the 850 million people already affected by chronic hunger.

A joint report by FAO and the OECD warned last week food prices were expected to remain high over the next decade even if they should ease from their recent record peaks.