Food price rise 'global crisis,' says U.N. chief

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The U.N. secretary-general sounded a warning about rocketing food prices on Friday, saying the problem has developed into a "real global crisis."

Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was very concerned, as were all members of the international community.

"We must take immediate action in a concerted way all throughout the international community," he said.

Ban spoke to reporters Friday at Vienna's U.N. offices during a trip to the Austrian capital to meet with the nation's top leaders and hold talks on how the United Nations and European Union can forge closer ties.

"This steeply rising price of food -- it has developed into a real global crisis," Ban said, adding that the World Food Program has made an urgent appeal for an additional $755 million to "fill the missing gap" so it can carry out its humanitarian work.

Ban urged leaders to sit down together on an "urgent basis" to discuss how to improve economic distribution systems and how to improve and promote agricultural production.

His comments echo those of other U.N. officials who have rung alarm bells in recent days over the rapidly increasing cost of food staples, which has already sparked violent protests in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Josette Sheeran, the World Food Program's executive director, told reporters late Thursday the U.N. agency was facing a 40 percent increase in the cost of food and requests for food aid from countries unable to cope with the rising prices.

Earlier in the week, Sheeran likened it to a silent tsunami, noting that the price of rice had more than doubled since March.

Also Thursday, Jacques Diouf, chief of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, said giving farmers in developing countries immediate help to grow more crops should be the focus of efforts to tackle the growing crisis.

An international meeting in Rome June 3-5 would give the world an opportunity to rethink its policies and act, he said.

The World Bank estimates that food prices have risen by 83 percent in three years.

Before the news conference, Ban participated in an inauguration ceremony for a new building at Vienna's U.N. complex alongside Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, Vienna Mayor Michael Haeupl and Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. E-mail to a friend

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