 | This article needs to be updated.(December 2012) |
Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC) is a proposed organisation of South-East Asian countries which would regulate rice. The group was expected to be made up of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The project came to international attention after remarks made publicly by Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on the 30th April 2008. [1] [2]
A first unsuccessful attempt to coordinate prices for rice on world markets was made in 2002 at the occasion of a meeting of senior government officials from major rice exporting countries from ASEAN and India. [3]
According to Cambodia's prime minister Hun Sen the five proposed members of OREC cartel will discuss the organisation at regional talks in October 2008. [4]
In June 2008, due to objections from the Philippines and Asian Development Bank, Thailand scrapped the OREC proposal. [5]
It is yet unclear whether the organisation's intention would be to create a rice price fixing cartel similar to the one of the OPEC for petroleum. However, it can be assumed that some price coordination will be the objective given the coincidence of the announcement with rising world-market prices for rice and the fact that all prospective members are traditional rice producers with high current export levels or export potentials for rice. [6] Statements by the involved countries in early May indicated that a price-fixing cartel would only serve to "worsen food security" and the organization's purpose is "to contribute to ensuring food stability, not just in an individual country but also to address food shortages in the region and the world". [7] [8]
The discussion on a political agenda appears to be of a programmatic nature at this early stage with only few political statements being made to the public. Thailand's prime minister Mr. Samak was quoted in the Thai newspaper The Nation as saying that, “We [OREC] don’t aspire to be like OPEC, but we hope to be just a group of five to help each other in trading rice on the world market”. [9]
A few days later Cambodia's prime minister, in an attempt to allay fears in the region about the creation of rice exporting cartel, specified some of what he thinks may be the core principles of action of OREC, "[...] to contribute to ensuring food stability not just in individual countries but also to address food shortages in the region and the world.". He further added, "We shall not hoard (rice) and raise prices when there are shortages.", and that "[...]our friends in ASEAN should not be worried about creation of this association." [10]
Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, denounced the plans for the creation of OREC. [11] Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, opposed the organization's creation saying that it would be bad for both importers and exporters. [12]
Critics predict that a cartel on rice may be to the economic detriment of those who initiate it since rice producing countries may be able to expand their land under cultivation in the medium to long term. Members of the cartel may thus lose today's rice export markets with governments pushing towards stronger national production in order to achieve food self-reliance. [3] Controlling the supply-side on a world scale may be a difficult goal to achieve for OREC. Herein can be seen a major difference to the oil-cartel OPEC. [13] [14]
The economy of Cambodia currently follows an open market system and has seen rapid economic progress in the last decade. Cambodia had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $28.54 billion in 2022. Per capita income, although rapidly increasing, is low compared with most neighboring countries. Cambodia's two largest industries are textiles and tourism, while agricultural activities remain the main source of income for many Cambodians living in rural areas. The service sector is heavily concentrated on trading activities and catering-related services. Recently, Cambodia has reported that oil and natural gas reserves have been found off-shore.
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Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, Laos is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.
The economy of Myanmar is the seventh largest in Southeast Asia. After the return of civilian rule in 2011, the new government launched large-scale reforms, focused initially on the political system to restore peace and achieve national unity and moving quickly to an economic and social reform program. Current economic statistics were a huge decline from the economic statistics of Myanmar in the fiscal year of 2020, in which Myanmar’s nominal GDP was $81.26 billion and its purchasing power adjusted GDP was $279.14 billion. Myanmar has faced an economic crisis since the 2021 coup d'état.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a political and economic union of 10 states in Southeast Asia. Together, its member states represent a population of over 600 million over a land area of 4.5 million km2 (1.7 million sq mi). The bloc generated a purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$10.2 trillion in 2022, constituting approximately 6.5% of global GDP (PPP). ASEAN member states include some of the fastest growing economies in the world, and the institution occupies a central position in East Asian regionalism.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize profit. It was founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members. The organization, which currently comprises 12 member countries, accounted for an estimated 30 percent of global oil production. A 2022 report further details that OPEC member countries were responsible for approximately 38 percent of it. Additionally, it is estimated that 79.5 percent of the world's proven oil reserves are located within OPEC nations, with the Middle East alone accounting for 67.2 percent of OPEC's total reserves.
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambodia borders Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand on the southwest. Cambodia spans an area of 181,035 square kilometres, and has a population of about 17 million. Its capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh.
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The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an intergovernmental organization currently comprising 19 Member Countries of the world's leading natural gas producers: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela are members and Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Mozambique, Malaysia, Norway, Peru and the United Arab Emirates are observers. GECF members together control over 71% of the world's natural proven gas reserves, 44% of its marketed production, 53% of the pipeline, and 57% of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports across the globe. It is headquartered in Doha, Qatar.
The following are international rankings of Thailand.
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The Emblem of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or the ASEAN Emblem is the emblem of ASEAN adopted in July 1997 together with the ASEAN flag. Although the current emblem was already in use for years, the official guidelines were adopted at the 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) in Hanoi, 8 April 2010.
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