HANOI - The Philippines and Vietnam are drawing up a five-year rice trade agreement to ensure food security amid rising prices.

The announcement followed a meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Indonesia.

“Our two countries will conclude an… agreement on rice trade, so that our rice export to the Philippines will ensure food security in the Philippines,” Mr Chinh told Mr Marcos.

“We look forward to having a stable framework of cooperation on rice trade for a long period of at least five years. With that, we can ensure our production and you can also ensure imports from Vietnam.”

Mr Marcos said the Philippines looks forward to this deal in the light of concerns about food security and amid the droughts caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

“We hope that we can find an agreement so that there will be an exchange,” he said.

Talks on rice deals with Vietnam have been ongoing since August.

Philippine Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said some 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes of additional rice may be imported from Vietnam at discounted prices.

In 2022, Vietnam was the world’s third-largest rice exporter after India and Thailand. The Philippines has been its largest buyer.

In July, India, which accounts for more than 40 per cent of the global rice trade, ordered a halt to its largest export category to calm domestic prices, sending global prices to 15-year high and stoking concern over already-high global food inflation. THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS