Seoul - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak told finance ministers at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Monday that international cooperation is needed to combat soaring oil and food prices.

After a "decade of boom and prosperity" the global economy is facing the "biggest crisis since the oil shock era in the 1970s," said Lee in a speech to the finance ministers at the one-day meeting on the South Korean island Cheju.

As the finance ministers of the G8 concluded at their meeting in the Japanese city of Osaka last week, Lee sees economic growth worldwide threatened by the rising prices for oil, food and raw materials and the recent global financial turmoil.

Lee said he expected Monday's ASEM meeting to provide a forum for regional economic cooperation and facilitate economic policy coordination between Europe and Asia.

The Cheju meeting is being attended by finance ministers or their deputies from 27 EU countries and 16 Asian nations, including China and Japan, plus officials from six international organisations.

ASEM was created in 1996 as an informal round of talks in order to strengthen relations between both continents economically and politically as well as in cultural and scientific aspects.

The next ASEM summit of heads of state is planned for October in Beijing. (dpa)