German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in Berlin June 1, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BERLIN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concerns over the current rising world food and fuel prices and global climate change in a press conference after they met in Berlin on Sunday.

    Fukuda emphasized that the world food production should be improved and called for developed countries export more advanced technologies and good seeds to poor countries.

    Referring to the high oil price, Fukuda said, "What is important is that more oil should be produced and we should invest in this. We need a stable supply," but he warned, "We cannot ignore the market and just decide something."

    "We must make sure that biofuel production does not compete with crop cultivation, that it does not interfere with the need to produce food," said Merkel.

    Referring to the problem of global climate change, Merkel said developed countries had special responsibilities. G-8 countries should cooperate with the emerging economies to solve the problem and realize the goal of cutting half of carbon dioxide exhaustion by 2050.

    Fukuda started his trip of Europe is to prepare the G8 summit of leading industrialized nations on July 7-9 at Toyako, a lakeside resort on the northern island of Hokkaido.

    Germany is his first stop, then he will fly to London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and then on to the UN-backed food summit in Rome, on the sidelines of which he plans to hold talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy.