Japan has proposed for the establishment of international food stock reserve for emergency assistance to the poor nations.

The proposal was made by a top Japanese government official to the World Trade Organisations (WTO) at the ongoing meeting of Asia-Pacific countries on food security here in Kathmandu.

“The proposed scheme would ensure the (setting up of) international food stockholdings of basic foodstuffs and contribute to more effective implementation of food aid,” said Hiromi Iwanaga, parliamentary secretary for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan at the regional conference of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Several nations, including developing countries have shown interest in the proposal, said a press release issued by FAO.

Japan believes that food security should be based on “sustainable improvement in food productivity in each country rather than increasing their food dependency on food exporting countries,” he said.

While being the largest provider of bilateral development assistance to the Asia-Pacific region, Japan “continues to work toward the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for all the products of least developed countries.”

Delegates from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, and the United States of America are attending the five-day conference.