RSIS hosted a webinar titled “Policy Options for Asia and Global Community in the Face of Export Bans” on 29 May 2024. It featured international experts from various institutions of relevance to the theme. RSIS Research Fellow, Dr Jose Ma. Luis Montesclaros, as webinar chair, gave a scene-setter presentation to get the audience and panellists on the same page around problematic food export bans, reflecting on recent events as well as the 2007-2008 global food price crisis. Dr David Laborde, Director for Agrifood Economics division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, provided a deeply analytical take on the topic of food insecurity in a globalised world, discussed countries’ justifications for bans, and described the impacts of historical disruptions including the 2007-2008 food crisis, COVID-19, and the recent Ukraine war.

Ms Jansinee Kankaew, the Head of Implementation at the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserves (APTERR) Secretariat, then discussed developments on the APTERR mechanism to make it impactful amid a rapidly evolving environment. Dr Xianbin Yao, Senior Advisor to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Agriculture, Food Security, Natural Capital and Rural Development, took a step back to share the need for a broad, food systems perspective, and described some initiatives taken by the ADB to support regional food security. Finally, Dr Denis Hew, Senior Research Fellow with the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; reflected on the implications of such bans on regional economic integration, touching also on the hostile global economic landscape faced today amid geopolitical, trade and economic tensions.

Watch the webinar here: