Caribbean leaders will meet in Guyana next week to address ways of reducing food prices, which have soared along with international energy costs that have made production and imports more expensive, officials said yesterday. Opposition parties and consumer groups in countries including Barbados have called for price controls to reduce the toll on consumers in the region, which spends an estimated US$3 billion a year on imported food. The one-day meeting of the 15-nation Caribbean Community on December 7 will also touch on negotiations for a new trade and aid pact with the European Union, according to Guyana's foreign minister Rudy Insanally. Grenada's Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell, had called for the summit earlier this month. The special summit has the backing of all Caribbean leaders. Several CARICOM member states already announced plans to cushion the effects of increased prices for commodities and services in the region. St Lucia's Prime Minister, Stephenson King, said his government would place a cap on certain food items, while Barbadian consumers were expecting a reduction in their shopping costs. Earlier this month, St Kitts Nevis signed a Price Control Order aimed at limiting prices in a typical consumer 'basket of goods'. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com