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Manila: Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Friday assured President Gloria Arroyo of enough rice supply at a "negotiated price," said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap. Samak also allowed the Philippine government to buy rice from Thai's private sector, he said.
The rice agreement between Philippine and Thailand was scheduled to be signed this week, said Yap. But he did not reveal the volume of rice that Thailand could supply to the Philippines.
"We have reached out to our Asean neighbours who happen to be among the big rice exporting countries long before the shortage hit," said Arroyo in a speech yesterday.
"We must work together to improve agronomic practices, to enhance the ability to utilise rice varieties more effectively. This will help prevent any global food crisis in the longer term," Arroyo said
Earlier, the Philippine government has secured contracts to buy 1.5 million tonnes of rice from Vietnam, and for 200,000 tonnes from Japan to fill a ten per cent domestic production gap in 2008. It is buying additional 675,000 tonnes of rice as buffer stocks for end of 2008.
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