Thailand's Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said on Thursday that she will discuss a plan to set up an ASEAN rice trading company with her Vietnamese counterpart during the forthcoming AEM meeting, the Bangkok Post's website reported.

The AEM or ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in Vietnam.

"Commerce ministers of Laos and Cambodia have proposed that Thailand and Vietnam, as the two major rice producers of the world, should take a leading role in dusting off the plan," the website quoted the minister as saying.

The idea to jointly set up the rice trading firm comprising key rice producers in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), aiming at boosting and stabilizing rice prices, was proposed by Thailand at the AEM meeting in capital Bangkok last year, she said.

However, the plan had not progressed because several countries do not have enough rice warehouses and rice mills, she explained.

These problems will be addressed and discussed at the forthcoming AEM meeting in Vietnam, so the plan can move ahead, Porntiva said.