Hun Sen says rice cartel could help settle global rice markets+

PHNOM PENH, May 5 (Kyodo) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen revived Monday his 2005 call for the formation of a rice cartel to help settle global rice markets.

In a speech to graduate students in Phnom Penh, he said "certain friends" should "not worry" about a rice cartel because it would not be set up as the oil cartel OPEC to "once want to stop and once want to produce" rice.

"Through the formation of the rice cartel, we will help dissolve the rice shortage in the region and in the world," Hun Sen told the students.

He initiated the idea of a regional rice cartel in 2005 at a meeting of the leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam in Bangkok.

The five countries group together in the Ayeyawadee-Chao Praya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Sub-region, or ACMECS.

Hun Sen added that all five ACMECS leaders welcomed the idea, but, "unfortunately," only Hun Sen remains in power.

Bounnhang Vorachit of Laos, Soe Win of Myanmar, Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand and then Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai have all since been replaced.

The Cambodian premier also said that other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- which is made up of the ACMECS countries plus Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia -- should not "fear" a regional rice cartel.

Hun Sen said an ACMECS cartel could produce 12 to 15 million tons of rice annually for export and that the regulated release of those stocks could help keep rice prices stable.

He added that recently soaring rice prices, which are harming many poor people and many economies across the world, mean that the idea of an Organization of Rice Exporting Countries, OREC, will be discussed in October when Vietnam hosts the ACMECS leaders.

The Asian Development Bank has expressed displeasure with the idea of an OREC, but the ACMECS leaders may be more favorably disposed to a cartel amid the current market turmoil.

Additionally, Hun Sen said, it is time for the world to focus on products "feeding humans" rather than on those such as petroleum products and bio-fuels used for "feeding machines."