By DPA,
Berlin : Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have expressed concern over the current oil price and called for greater transparency in the oil market.
Fukuda, who met the German chancellor in Berlin Sunday, said the rapid rise in oil prices had to be taken seriously and that market signals had to be heeded.
There was a need for more investment in exploiting crude reserves and increased efforts to save energy.
Merkel expressed support for a French initiative to coordinate the approach of the industrialised world to rising energy prices, although this had to be goal-oriented and durable.
The German chancellor called for greater transparency in the oil sector, from crude recovery to trade in petroleum products.
Fukuda is in Germany starting his series of visits to European members of the Group of Eight (G8), ahead of the annual G8 summit in Toyako on Hokkaido island in early July.
Japan succeeded Germany as president of the G8 at the start of the year.
Japan has taken over many of the German G8 themes – climate change, aid to Africa and intensive dialogue with the emerging economic powers China, India and Brazil.
Food security, in the face of rising world fuel prices, is another topic on the Toyako agenda.
Merkel said she expected an important signal to be sent by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization this week regarding the growing crisis over food shortages.
There should be no competition for land between food and biofuels, Merkel said.